Tags:
Journalism of Courage
HYDERABAD, JAN 24: It is more apt to term the prisons in Andhra Pradesh 8220;centres of criminalisation8221; rather than 8220;institutions of reform8221;.
Over-crowding, to the extent of double the actual capacity of prisons, lack of escorts to take undertrials to court for hearing, poor sanitary conditions and lack of medicare are only some of the problems faced by the prisoners languishing in various gaols in the state.
8220;We are chained like animals while being produced in courts contrary to the verdict of Supreme Court. We continue to rot in jails as cases get postponed for no fault of ours. It is the duty of the government to provide us the escort8221;.
This was what a prisoner had said in 1996. Five years later, the situation remains unchanged.
There are 172 jails in the state six central prisons, 10 district jails, two women8217;s jails, two open air jails, one borstal school and 118 sub jails.As against the total capacity of 9,847 in all the jails put together, the number of inmates is between 13,000 to 14,000. Over-crowding, particularly in district and sub-jails, often crosses 400 per cent.
Almost all the prisons in the state are more than a century old, the oldest being the district jail at Sangareddy which was constructed way back in 1796. The Chanchalguda central prison in the city, constructed in 1876, has a capacity of 712 but houses 1,676 prisoners. Proper drainage, sanitary systems and safe drinking water are a luxury in this prison which made even Home Minister T. Devender Goud admit recently that the conditions were 8220;indeed bad8221;.
8220;It needs proper maintenance to make living conditions of prisoners compatible with human dignity,8221; says Inspector General of Prisons M V Krishna Rao.
According to him, delay in trials and failure of prisoners to furnish necessary security for getting bail result in over-crowding of prisons. The overcrowding very often led to indiscipline, smuggling of contraband, poor sanitary conditions and security problems.
Even with the prescribed capacity of 712 for Chanchalguda prison, the space allotted to each prisoner for sleeping is 12 square feet Thanks to the increased numbers, two prisoners were accommodated in the space meant for one person.
Due to paucity of funds, the jail maintenance staff were not even in a position to wash the barracks so much so that most of the prisoners suffer from ill-health.
