Other States - Pondicherry   

Turn prisons into educational institutions, says judge

Staff Reporter

Nine remand prisoners jailed for petty crimes freed at first prison adalat Work on setting up a prison at Kalapet progressing well

PONDICHERRY: Prisons should be turned into educational institutions, where inmates could learn how to live a good and productive life once they are freed, Justice M Karpagavinayagam of Madras High Court said here on Saturday.

The jail authorities should adopt a humane approach to prisoners. They should be encouraged to read books and think positively, he said after inaugurating the Prison Adalat at the Pondicherry Central Prison.

Income-generating schemes

The Government as well as the prison authorities should evolve income-generating schemes for the family members of those serving life imprisonment, he said.

"The wife and children of a person who is serving life imprisonment suffers for no fault of theirs. In most cases they will not have anyone to support them financially," the Judge said.

The Government should come out with projects targeting this segment. Also, there should be programmes to rehabilitate prisoners after their release, he said.

The judge distributed copies of a Tamil translation of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography to prisoners.

Earlier, nine remand prisoners, who were jailed for a petty crime, were freed at the first prison adalat, chaired by Judicial Magistrate 1 Swarnam Natrajan. The prison adalat will be held periodically.

Justice A. Kulasekaran of the Madras High Court, who is also the portfolio Judge of Pondicherry, said prison adalats were established to avoid detaining remand prisoner for a long period.

At present there are 234 prisoners in the Central Prison and out of this 84 are life convicts and 134 undertrials.

The work on setting up a prison at Kalapet was progressing well and was expected to be ready by next year, G Ragesh Chandra, Additional District Magistrate and Inspector-General of Prisons (In-Charge) said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Turn prisons into educational institutions, says judge
B.Tech. admission rules relaxed
May Day greetings
Power shutdown

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu