Prisoner welfare gets Tihar Jail an ISO certificate

It might be an abode of the country’s dreaded criminals, but Tihar Jail has just received global recognition, an ISO certificate, for its management systems focusing on prisoner welfare and visitors’ convenience, reports Abhishek Sharan.

It might be an abode of the country’s dreaded criminals, but Tihar Jail has just received global recognition, an ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) certificate, for its management systems focusing on prisoner welfare and visitors’ convenience.

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The certificate were granted to three of the jail’s facilities whose standards were found to be ISO-compliant — the Visitor’s Management System (VSM), Drug De-addiction Programme that doubles up as an HIV detection-cum-treatment programme, and setting up of Model Wards for the first-time offenders.

The ISO is also currently in the process of assessing standards of the jail’s female wards, said spokesperson Sunil Kumar Gupta.

“The ISO certificate,” Tihar Prisons chief and director general of police B.K. Gupta told HT, “was given to us on Tuesday after a four-month process during which our facilities were put to a rigorous test by the granting authority.” He added, “Tihar is now the country’s first jail to have received it.”

The jail’s de-addiction programme, according to jail officials, especially caught the eye of the ISO.

The jail’s VSM aims to ensure hassles-free meeting between inmates and their dear ones, using dedicated computer software registering the visits 10 days in advance on centralised telephone numbers.

Around 1, 500 visitors meet around 700 inmates daily; a prisoner can have three visitors, twice a week while their lawyers can meet them daily.