Advancing Evidence-Based, Humane and Professional Correctional Governance in India
- Bilkul Online
- Gandhinagar | 21 Dec 2025
Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) hosted a landmark Roundtable Conference of Inspector Generals on Correctional Administration at its Gandhinagar campus, marking India’s first formal step towards aligning correctional governance with global evidence-based prison management practices.
The conference brought together senior officials from prisons and correctional administration, Police and CID representatives from 16 states, along with over 25 academicians and field experts from across the country. The event was themed “Transforming Correctional Administration: Innovation, Wellbeing, and Collaborative Excellence.”
The inaugural session began with the felicitation of dignitaries and a welcome address by Geetesh Kumar Singh, Project Director (GCAS), who highlighted RRU’s role in integrating practice, research, leadership, and learning in the field of internal security and corrections.
Delivering the inaugural address, Bimal N. Patel, Vice-Chancellor of RRU, underscored the national mandate for developing correctional administration as a specialized academic and professional discipline. He noted that correctional administration has long remained a critical gap area and emphasized the need for modern approaches, officer wellbeing, and inter-institutional collaboration to strengthen India’s correctional systems.
A special address was delivered by K. L. N. Rao, IPS, DGP, CID (Crime & Railways and Correctional Administration), Gujarat. He highlighted progressive initiatives undertaken in Gujarat prisons with a focus on mental health and psychological wellbeing of all stakeholders. Advocating early psychological profiling and counselling from the first day of incarceration, he remarked that society expects inmates to return “normal” from a traumatic environment, stressing the need to bridge this psychological gap. He also announced the expansion of prison capacity by 4,000 new facilities and introduced the vision of “Har Haath Ko Kaam”, aimed at integrating undertrials into livelihood programmes to prevent criminal reinforcement during incarceration.
The conference featured two technical sessions. The first session focused on best practices in offender rehabilitation, reintegration, and reformation, covering institutional mindset development, holistic wellness, social safety nets, economic resurgence post-release, technological infrastructure, perception management, legal reform, establishment of de-addiction clinics in prisons, and enhancement of prison staff salaries.
A dedicated exhibition showcased advanced psychological frameworks and correctional technologies, highlighting mental health services operational across Gujarat’s major Central Prisons at Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, and Vadodara, along with forensic mental health services at Sabarmati Central Prison.
The second session addressed the professionalization of the correctional workforce through the creation of a Specialized Cadre in Correctional Administration, marked by the signing of a landmark Affiliation and Accreditation document. Headed by Jasbir Thandani, Dean In-charge, RRU, the session also saw valuable inputs from senior delegates on the syllabus of the Master’s Programme in Correctional Administration and emphasized prison staff welfare and specialized stress-management techniques.
The conference concluded with the Vice-Chancellor reaffirming a strong mandate for modernization through technology-driven transparency and security, positioning correctional administration as a high-stakes, specialized professional field. The programme ended with a formal vote of thanks by the University Dean.
Kindly Like the link shared and Subscribe our channel. https://youtube.com/shorts/Odk-B6EQwIM?feature=share
