Proposal for multi-storey jail for undertrials in Mumbai sent to state: ADGP Prisons

PUNE A proposal by the Maharashtra police prison department for a multi-storey jail for undertrials in Mumbai, has seen the light of the day as the proposal has been sent to the state government, according to Sunil Ramanand, additional director general of police (ADGP), Prisons, Maharashtra

PUNE A proposal by the Maharashtra police prison department for a multi-storey jail for undertrials in Mumbai, has seen the light of the day as the proposal has been sent to the state government, according to Sunil Ramanand, additional director general of police (ADGP), Prisons, Maharashtra.

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The multi-storey building will be similar to the ones functional in Miami and Chicago in the US, according to ADG Ramamnand.

“This new building will be for Mumbai. What’s happening is that Arthur road jail with a capacity of 800 has no more scope for extension. And the lease of that land is going to end in 2024. Therefore, there is an urgent need for another facility in Mumbai. A 15 acre plot owned by the Women and Child Development department near the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Chembur has been identified. The chairman of the committee is the home minister,” said ADG Ramanand.

While announcing the jail tourism initiative in 2020, which is on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the then home minister Anil Deshmukh had said that he had proposed jail expansion in Maharashtra.

FUNDING OF THE NEW CONSTRUCTION

There are two methods of funding and undertaking projects, one where the proposal is sent to the government and the funding is provided by the government, and the other where a private entity is deployed called public-private-partnership (PPP). In the PPP method, the government will allow the private player to monetise prison assets in the non-jail areas in exchange for building the jail for free, according to the officer.

“This will ensure bigger facilities with no monetary investment for the government. Although, the construction will be done using the Police Housing Corporation, but the private player will be allowed to monetise jail assets,” said ADG Ramanand.

Jail assets including land, industries and skill of the inmates.

“What remains to be seen is whether the government undertakes the AA or PPP method for these projects,” said ADG Ramanand.

NEW PRISONS

The new facilities are in the pipeline at Mumbai, Gondia, Palghar, and Hingoli. A proposal for Pune is yet to be made, although there is no shortage of land for the prison department unlike in other regions.

The proposal for Mumbai has been sent and is awaiting government response. The land in Hingoli is yet to be finalised while the land acquisition is pending in Palghar; in Gondia, the funding from the government is awaited.

“There is an urgent need in Pune as well. But in Pune, the jail department already owns a huge piece of land. The process will be much easier for Pune and a jail with 5,000 capacity can be built,” said ADG Ramanand.

VIDEO CONFERENCE

The ADG has claimed to have made an application to the department of justice, and other stakeholders, to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to allow for recording of evidence through video conferencing.

“Even without video conferencing, the production rate of prisoners in court is only 38%. Video conferencing will allow for evidence to be recorded virtually. The number of trails of cases has had major setbacks due to the pandemic. The undertrial population has skyrocketed because of this. In video conferencing, the inmate can also be allowed to interrupt or state his/her side,” said ADG Ramanand.

He also mentioned that the pandemic has forced the machinery to lose the prejudice against online functioning, as online classes, lectures, and meetings have become a norm.

CANTEEN FACILITY FOR INMATES

The prison department has proposed a canteen facility for inmates with multiple food and consumer product options that are found in a normal department store.

Every inmate has an expenditure limit of ₹4,500 per month and is provided with a wage as per their category - skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled on a daily basis.

Each inmate has a bank account in which their wages as well as money sent by their family members can be used.

The canteen is a long shot but it will supplement food requirements of inmates beyond the food provided by the prison department.