A first of its kind report, Deathworthy, presents empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row. The report finds that an overwhelming majority of death row prisoners interviewed (62.2%) had a mental illness and 11% had intellectual disability. The proportion of persons with mental illness and intellectual disability on death row is overwhelmingly higher than the proportion in the community population. The report also establishes correlations between conditions of death row incarceration and mental illness and ill-health. Led and conceptualised by Maitreyi Misra (now, Director of Mental Health and of Mitigation at The Square Circle Clinic) while she was with Project 39A, National Law University (Delhi), the study was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Pratima Murthy (Director, NIMHANS), Dr Sanjeev Jain (Senior Professor, Dept of Psychiatry, NIMHANS) and Dr Gitanjali Narayanan (Associate Professor, Dept of Psychology, NIMHANS).
Find the Executive Summary of the Report here.
The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR 