Three in every four people held in an Indian prison have not been convicted of anything. They are waiting for a trial, in a system holding 45 million pending cases. This traces who is inside, how long they have been there, and what is happening in the courts that hold them.
Capacity is the sanctioned number of places. Above 100% a prison is holding more people than it has room for.
An undertrial is a person in custody whose trial has not concluded. In law they are innocent. The share below is undertrials as a percentage of everyone that state holds.
Time spent in custody so far, for people whose trial has not finished. This is time already served before any finding of guilt.
Each dot is a state. Across the bottom, the share of its people who are Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. Up the side, their share of that state's undertrials. On the diagonal the two match. Above it, they are held more often than their numbers would suggest.
Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure: a person who has spent half the maximum sentence for the offence charged in custody, without trial, shall be released on bond.
Why the wait is long. These are cases pending in the district and subordinate courts where criminal trials are heard, grouped by how long they have already been pending.