Mumbai : Excellence in Yoga will enable prisoners in Maharashtra to get remission for up to three months, a top prisons official said on Wednesday.
“Maximum three months of remission will be given to the prisoners who would excel in Yoga. The powers in this regard are given to the ADG (Prisons) by the state government,” said Maharashtra ADG (Prisons) BK Upadhyay.
“Yoga has been in practice in jails from the past, but now it has been added in the reformation process,” he said. Since the past four days, prisoners from Yerwada jail in Pune have started getting theoretical lessons about Yoga and its advantages, Upadhyay said.
The initiative has begun from Pune and will eventually be taken across all jails in the state, the ADG said.
In the first week of January next year, practical sessions will be start in Yerwada jail and all convicts including terrorists and hardcore criminals could enable this benefit, the official said.
“Only the persons who are convicted under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act will not be allowed to take this benefit,” Upadhyay added.
In the first phase, over 500 inmates from Yerawada jail will be trained in Yoga and various asanas, dhyaan and pranayaam (meditation) will be taught to them.
