Chandigarh Jails: Prisoners Can Now Be Moved to Other States
Convicts, including life prisoners, and undertrials held in Chandigarh can now be shifted to jails in other states under new rules, and tobacco is banned inside.
Image: Representative image / iStock
The Union Home Ministry has extended Punjab’s prison and correctional services law to Chandigarh, a notification issued on 6 November under Section 87 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, shows. The change means convicts and undertrial prisoners held in the Union Territory’s jails can be moved to prisons in other states, and prisoners from elsewhere can be brought to Chandigarh, under conditions set in the notification.
Who Can Be Moved, and Who Must Agree
Convicts serving sentences in Chandigarh, including those serving life terms, can be shifted to another state or Union Territory only with the consent of that government and an order from the Chandigarh Administrator. Undertrials can be transferred in the interest of security, law and order or public interest. That also needs the other government’s consent and, according to The Tribune, approval from the court where the trial is pending.
Tobacco Ban and No-Fly Zones Around Jails
The notification covers more than transfers. Tobacco consumption inside jails becomes an offence, and flying an aerial object over a prison’s no-fly zone needs permission from the competent civil aviation authority and prior approval from the prison department. The law also provides for monitoring of convicts after release, electronic surveillance inside prisons and safeguards for inmates with disabilities. References to the Punjab government are replaced with the relevant Chandigarh authorities; The Tribune described these changes as largely technical.
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Part of a Wider Prison Reform Push
The Tribune reported that the move follows the Centre’s Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, a template for states to update their jail administration. Chandigarh’s main prison, the Model Jail at Burail, opened in 1972 and has an official capacity of about 1,120 inmates, according to its Wikipedia entry.
The notification does not name any prisoner or prison to be transferred, and no date has been announced for the first transfers.
Source: Based on the Union Home Ministry notification of 6 November 2026 as reported by PTI via The Week and The Tribune. Also based on reporting by Deccan Chronicle.
Image: Representative image / iStock via The Tribune.
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