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This is an archive article published on July 20, 1999

Crowded jail cries for space

SURAT, July 19: Most of the people here may have definitely not come by choice. But the space crunch is surely bothering them. This is Su...

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SURAT, July 19: Most of the people here may have definitely not come by choice. But the space crunch is surely bothering them. This is Surat district jail at Ring Road area of the city.

While the jail can accommodate only 265 prisoners at any given time, the number of inmates lodged here in the past few months have ranged between 900 and 1100. As on Monday, around 950 inmates were lodged in the jail.

So packed is the jail at all times of the year that it has to repeatedly inform the court that it has no place for any more inmates, specially after bulk arrests are made by the Prevention of Crime Branch as part of its drive against prostitution at Chakla Bazaar. “They are now being sent to the Vadodara Central Jail as no more can be accommodated here,” Jail superintendent P M Patel told Express Newsline.

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So more than 15 people are being stuffed into a cell where normally three could be kept. Admitting the space crunch, jail authorities said that they did face problems while managing the inmates. Scuffles are a regular feature and the jail authorities do not deny them either. “In circumstances, where there is so much overcrowding, brawls are inevitable,” admitted Patel.

But, Patel said, it was absurd to highlight fights among inmates as they were not innocent and peace-loving people, but criminals who were accustomed to such situations.

Hence, while the prisoners are busy battling it out for even the basic facilities, an already sanctioned project of fitting closed circuit televisions along with general upgradation of the premises to the status of a Central jail will have to wait until further notice.

Meanwhile, the jail authorities have sent proposals of possible sites where the jail could be shifted and the State government is still considering the proposals. “We, however, wish that the hospital, court and other facilities are close by as these are daily requirements here,” said officials.

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Incidentally, the Surat district jail — before being converted into a place for housing undertrials and criminals — was a liquor distillery. It was converted into a jail after the government bought the land. Huge tanks and other equipment used for liquor distillation are still kept in the basement of this old British-style structure.

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