Bathinda jail unable to cope with rush of prisoners

BATHINDA, JAN 19: The burgeoning number of prisoners and undertrials in the Bathinda Central jail has become a headache for the authoriti...

BATHINDA, JAN 19: The burgeoning number of prisoners and undertrials in the Bathinda Central jail has become a headache for the authorities who are finding it really difficult to cope with the situation.

At present 895 prisoners and undertrials are lodged in eight barracks actually meant to house 500. The barracks are so packed that there is hardly any room for the inmates.Of the 895, as many as 484 are undertrials whose cases are pending in the courts. According to official sources, some of the undertrials have been languishing in the jail for more than four years awaiting the court verdict.

Authoritative sources said some of the undertrials booked for minor offences had spent more time in the jail than the maximum sentence normally given for such crimes.

An undertrial who had been arrested in a murder case three years ago told ENS:8220;I have falsely been implicated in a murder case on the instance of an influential person. I know that I will finally be given a clean chit by the court, but who will compensate me for the three years I have lost behind bars?8221;

Several other prisoners who did not want to be quoted, alleged that the food was inhuman. They also alleged that they had to wait for hours to use the toilets and bathrooms which were stinking and unhygienic.Deputy jail superintendent Bhupinder Singh Gill, however, claimed that the inmates were being served food as per the jail manual. He said if any thing was lacking it was only due to the unprecedented rush of prisoners and undertrials.He alleged that despite their pleas, the government had not built a separate jail for Mansa even after making it a separate district five years ago.

8220;The government has not even given us gas connections for cooking,8221; Gill said adding that the jail cooks had to struggle to prepare food for hundreds on wooden blocks.