Anti-drug project for Tihar inmates

A trained peer instructor for 55 inmates, daily awareness classes and sessions on Vilakshan yoga, meditation and a garden of medicinal and herb plants at the nine sub-jails to help stay away from drugs.

A trained peer instructor for 55 inmates, daily awareness classes and sessions on Vilakshan yoga, meditation and a garden of medicinal and herb plants at the nine sub-jails to help stay away from drugs.

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These are the key elements of a newly launched project that aims at preventing and reducing drug abuse among the inmates at the Tihar central jail.

The project, 'Prevention of Drug Abuse and Promotion of Health & Yoga in Prisons', which was begun from Wednesday, focuses on preventing the non-users — comprising around 90% of the jail's total inmates' population of around 11,000 — from getting trapped by the lure of narcotics substances inside the prison.

Around 10% of the inmates, mostly under-trials are addicted to consumption of drugs and allegedly influence the gullible and vulnerable among the non-users into emulating them, according to a jail source who requested anonymity.

"Only 10% of the inmates are addicted to one or the other type of drugs and they are the ones who are lodged in drug treatment cells," said the source."We will keep a record of the inmates' participation in order to prevent and reduce drug abuse," said Neeraj Kumar, director general, Delhi Prisons.

The project will hold periodic workshops to train and sensitise the prison staff as well.

The project will be executed with the help of an NGO Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan.