After a stint in jail, hotelier offers to bail out inmates, gifts water cooler
ALLAHABAD: Having experienced the tough conditions, first hand, during a brief stint in Naini Central Jail here, eminent hotelier Sardar Joginder Singh has taken it upon himself to ‘improve’ the lives of inmates lodged there.
He was jailed briefly following a tiff over a piece of land.
As step one, he has gifted a 1000-litre water cooler to the jail for the inmates and visitors.
Moved by the plight of the prisoners, some of whom are unable to secure their release due to lack of money for bail, Singh, who is also the president of Shri Guru Singh Sabha, has also proposed to
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I witnessed their plight inside the jail premises. Dilapidated toilets, no proper drinking water facility, lack of hygiene, etc, were some of the basic shortcomings that need to be addressed
SARDAR JOGINDER SINGH
pay up their bail amount ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Singh said the condition of inmates in the jail was pathetic. “I witnessed their plight inside the jail premises. Dilapidated toilets, no proper drinking water facility, lack of hygiene, etc, were some of the basic shortcomings that need to be addressed,” he said.
The water cooler that he donated costs around Rs 1 lakh. “It is benefiting not only prison inmates but hundreds of visitors who arrive on the jail premises to meet their relatives and friends lodged here,” he said.
“We have also asked the jail administration to get us the list of inmates who have not been able to secure release because of lack of funds. Sabha will pay up the bail amount and get them freed,” he added.
DIG (jails) BR Verma, when contacted, confirmed that he had received the verbal proposal from the businessman and was getting a list of such prisoners prepared.
“There are a number of such inmates who should have been out by now but due to lack of funds, they could not be freed. I am personally getting the list prepared which would be completed by next week,” Verma added.
The condition of prisons in UP is pathetic largely due to overcrowding along with lack of basic facilities.
UP’s prisons department, under Right To Information (RTI) Act, has recently revealed that its 36 jails in the state, including five central jails, have 59.28% more prisoners are in jail than the original capacity.
Eight of its jails have more than double the capacity of inmates, three jails have more than three times the original capacity of jails besides two jails have more than four times the capacity of inmates stuffed behind bars.
A significant 1,155 inmates in UP jails had died due to different reasons between 2015 and 2017, the RTI plea confirmed.
In Naini jail, against the capacity of 2,090 prisoners, 3,693 prisoners are lodged currently. These include 1,665 convicts and 2,028 undertrials.