Prisons should be reform centres — Advani

He said efforts should be made in prisons to reform the misguided persons. "For the persons who have been misguided due to whatever reasons, imprisonment should give them an opportunity to do introspection," he said.

Advani lauded the reform programmes for the inmates under way in Tihar jail and appreciated the role of Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police Kiran Bedi and non-governmental organisations in it.

He stressed that the results of the reform process, like vocational and academic pursuits in the prison, should be disseminated.

About 800 inmates are currently pursuing academic as well as professional courses such as Masters Degree in Computer and Business Administration, Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, Commerce, Science, Computer, Tourism Studies, Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication and several other courses through the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the National Open School (NOS).

At least 1,798 inmates have successfully qualified for various academic and vocational courses since the inception of the IGNOU centre in the complex, prison authorities say.

The overall pass percentage of IGNOU and NOS courses is 70 percent and 45 percent, respectively, they say.

Speaking on the occasion, Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor said better law enforcement was bound to entail increase in the number of inmates.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, former Jail Minister H S Balli and MP V K Malhotra also spoke.