NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA E. Prison Oversight Mechanism 4.21 The Commission held a meeting with representatives of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on strengthening Prison Oversight Mechanism on 3rd March, 2020 under the Chairmanship of Shri Jaideep Govind, Secretary General, NHRC. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the findings of CHRI recent report ‘Looking into the Haze: Second National Report on Prison Monitoring in India. Secondly, MHA advisory of February 2011 regarding appointment and working of Non-Official Visitors for Prisons was brought to light. Thirdly, organisation of regional consultations led by Special Rapporteurs and State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) for capacity building of Board of Visitors (BOVs) and formulation of guidelines for the determination of compensation in cases of unnatural deaths in prisons were discussed. Fifthly, recommendation for Development of a webpage on prison monitoring as part of NHRC website which provides information on state-wise reports, functioning of BOVs, formats for reporting etc. to streamline documentation. The recommendations that emanated from the meeting are as follows: i. In tune with the Supreme Court directives, all States may be requested to make ‘Board of Visitors’, as specified in the Jail Manual, functional as this would help in maintaining better standards of the jails. NHRC may also recommend the States to conduct training of the members in the board. ii. A standard format for inspection may be formulated for the Visitors inspecting the prison administration. Such format may be uploaded in the NHRC website so that it is accessible to the Board members, Special Rapporteurs and Special Monitors. All the Visitors may be recommended to conduct the inspection as per the format and send the compiled report to respective States and also to the Commission. iii. A discussion may be conducted with all the Special Rapporteur and Special Monitor of NHRC to deliberate on capacity building of the Official and Non-Official Visitors to Prison and strengthening Prison Oversight Mechanism. iv. It is also recommended to broaden the ambit and understanding of Prison Oversight Mechanism and hold a discussion on how to institutionalize such mechanisms. v. A standardized Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) may be formulated with regards to the functioning of BOVs. A dynamic website portal may be created for uploading the prison data collected from such visits. vi. Standard guidelines for the determination of compensation in cases of unnatural deaths in prisons may be formulated by the Commission. vii. In the first phase, prisons would be selected zone-wise to monitor the conditions of prisoners by the NHRC Special Rapporteurs and Monitors. ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 43