23 sub-jails in ruin, closed forever
23 sub-jails in ruin, closed forever
HYDERABAD: The state prisons department has closed 23 district sub-jails across the state for repairs and renovation and also due ..

HYDERABAD: The state prisons department has closed 23 district sub-jails across the state for repairs and renovation and also due to the shortage of staff.Many more sub-jails, built during the British rule, may also face closure soon.The district sub-jails are more than 65 years old and are in bad shape.“The prisons department repairs and renovates the jails and closes them again soon as they get damaged again.It goes like a cycle of closing and reopening them because they are old.It has been going on for the last 15 years,” says B Sunil Kumar, additional inspector- general (prisons).Of the 143 sub-jails in the state, 23 have been closed as the prisons department could not get sufficient funds from the finance department for constructing district subjails anew.Whenever one sub-jail is overcrowded with under-trials, prisoners are shifted to nearby sub-jails.The 120 sub-jails functioning now house about 3,500 remand prisoners who stay there for periods ranging from one week to three months until courts deliver their verdicts.“During the 2010-11 financial year, the prisons department was sanctioned Rs 10 crore for repair and renovation of district sub-jails, and the allocation is being released in four instalments.This fund is not at all enough for renovation of the closed sub-jails and repair of damaged sub-jails.But we manage with the meagre allocation which will be supplemented by running some productive units in central prisons.Of the 23 closed sub-jails, seven cannot be repaired as they are completely ruined, and they have to be rebuilt,” Sunil Kumar says.He sees no possibility of constructing new sub-jails in the future because there is no allocation of fund for the purpose.As such, the 23 jails will remain closed until they are rebuilt.According to him, it may take at least five years if all the sub-jails to be in a good condition.A fresh batch of 618 warders has been being trained at the prisons head office, Chanchalguda, here since June by the State Institute of Correctional Administration.The training will be completed by March next year.Until then the problem of staff shortage will persist.At present, there are about 3,700 warders working in the prisons.Apart from the sub-jails, there seven are central prisons, 11 district jails, two women's jails, two open-air jails, and one Borstal School (for children) in the state.Together, all the jails have the capacity to accommodate about 14,000 prisoners (convicts and under-trials).

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