“Legal aid systems for prisoners have improved over the years, with more awareness and full-time salaried legal aid defence counsels appointed by the Legal Services authorities. Nonetheless, some prisoners will still plead guilty to avoid having to wait for years for the trial to get over. Fellow prisoners, prison officials or even judges and lawyers sometimes lure the prisoners to plead guilty, especially for petty offences. There’s one kind of justice for these people, and another kind of justice for people who have access to resources and to lawyers…”

In Episode 7 of JALDI’s new video series, ‘Designing Justice’, Professor Vijay Raghavan from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ Centre for Criminology and Justice and Project Director of TISS’ Prayas field action programme undertaking social work in criminal justice, takes us through the journey faced by prisoners under trial as they interact with the criminal justice system. He reflects on his experience to highlight the need for tackling asymmetry in access to legal aid and support, efficient and conscientious trial processes, addressing mental health needs of prisoners, and strategies for advocacy and policy reform within the system.