The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Five new prisons for State

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Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Five new prisons for State

G. Anand

District jails in the capital, Kannur and Ernakulam
Sub-jail for remand prisoners, jail for women

Thiruvananthapuram: In a bid to limit overcrowding and overcome consequent disciplinary problems in penal complexes in Kerala, the State government is opening three more district jails in Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur and Ernakulam in August this year.

The government will also open a special sub-jail for remand prisoners in the capital city and a prison to house women at Kakkanad in Kochi.

The Special Sub-Jail in Thiruvananthapuram will have tiled bathrooms, common showers, well ventilated cells and a small auditorium. It will also have a large room where prisoners can speak to their visitors through an iron barred window. The new jail is nearing completion inside the precincts of the old District Jail Complex at Attakulangara. The new Thiruvananthapuram District Sub-Jail is being constructed inside the Central Prison Complex.

Currently there are 6,500-odd prisoners in various jails, including Central Prisons, in Kerala. Around 4,000 of them, including 151 women, are undertrial prisoners. There are 51 women convicts.

The total holding capacity of prisons in Kerala is 4,500. Most of the prisons are overcrowded, resulting in disciplinary problems. An official said prisoners often fight over the use of toilets. For instance, the Thiruvananthapuram District Jail has a capacity to hold only 56 prisoners.

More capacity

It houses over 300 inmates at any given time. The official said the new prisons would have a capacity to house nearly 1,000 inmates.

The government is providing broadband connectivity to all prisons in the State to computer-link the facilities with the Prison Department Headquarters for enabling quick transmission of information and documents.

The government has already opened seven jails. They are the new open prison at Chemeni, Sub-Jail at Horsdurg, Chittoor Sub-Jail, Women’s Prison, Kannur, Special Sub-Jail, Kannur, Special Sub-Jail, Kozhikode and Sub-Jail, Viyyur.

Phone booths

The government has increased the number of jail wardens to 869 and head wardens to 292. More staff will be recruited for manning the new prisons. It has set up coin box telephone booths in the three central prisons to enable inmates to speak to their relatives. It has allowed prisoners to use FM radio sets to listen to music. Prisoners are also being trained to use computers.

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