Soon, Pune’s Yerawada open jail to provide sleeping berths to inmates
MUMBAI: In a first for Maharashtra, the Yerawada jail in Pune may soon get cement beds or sleeping berths for in its open jail, on the lines of the prisons in Tamil Nadu.
The Maharashtra prisons department has cleared the proposal and sent it to the public works department, which will execute the project. The proposal is to build 11 ground-plus-one buildings with 44 barracks each. Each barrack will have 14 sleeping berths with storage space and toilets for the inmates in the open jail.
Prisoners who are convicted for 10 to 14 years are sent from central jails to the open prison after five years, if their behaviour is good.
According to the government notification of December 1, 2015, the capacity of the open prison is to be increased to 799. In the first week of October, Swati Jogdand, superintendent of police, Yerawada open prison, sent the proposal to the public welfare department. The letter, a copy of which is with HT, states: “The Yerawada open prison has four barracks that house 172 inmates. On February 13, the home department sanctioned the building of a ground-plus-one building with a capacity of 50. The work has already been started with a fund of ₹42 lakh. This would increase the capacity to 222. The 11 buildings, once built, will help house the additional (577) prisoners, who would then be moved to the facility.”
All senior officials from the Maharashtra prison department had a meeting last month and gave nod to the development work. “Our aim is to shift convicted inmates from the Yerawada central jail to the open prison and employ them, which will keep them busy. Convicted inmates who have a history of good behaviour are shifted to the open jail. Also, they get to learn new things and it will help them get a job once they are out after completing their sentences,” said
Yogesh Desai, deputy inspector general, prisons, Pune.
Jogdand who visited Tamil Nadu jails this year said, “During the visit to Tamil Nadu and Visakhapatnam jails, we noticed the sleeping berths. We realised that prisoners’ response to it was good. There were no health or hygiene issues.”
“The Maharashtra jail manual has a provision for sleeping beds. Each room or barrack will have 14 beds with toilets and washroom and store room in it. It will be perfect for rehabilitation of a prisoner. There will be a storeroom in the middle of the building, where we will have CCTV cameras to monitor the barrack,” said Jogdand.
She further said the open jail authorities are co-ordinating with institutes and non-government organisations to organise different training programmes needed to augment the skills of the prisoners. “Our aim is not only to shift the prisoners to open jail, but to see that they get better jobs,” added Jogdand.
Getting sleeping bed at the open prison was the brainchild of additional director general of police (prisons) Sunil Ramanand.