The Maharashtra Prisons Department has introduced a slew of initiatives ranging from inmates welfare, prison security and use of technology in jails. These steps are the brainchild of Indian Police Service officer Amitabh Gupta, who is currently serving as Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General (Prisons and Correctional Services). Gupta spoke to The Free Press Journal’s Somendra Sharma and explained his plans. Excerpts:
Overcrowding of jails has been an issue for years. What measures are you taking to resolve this problem?
We are building new prisons so that overcrowding is reduced. The actual inmate capacity is approximately 25,000 in 60 prisons across the state, while there are currently 43,000 prisoners lodged in these jails. The basic problem of overcrowding lies in the MMR region, including Arthur Road, Thane and Kalyan. There are plans to construct a prison in Palghar district, Thane open prison is being converted into a closed prison, additional barracks are being constructed at Yerwada prison in Pune and in Mumbai land is being acquired to construct two prisons.
Tell us something about your welfare initiatives.
We have just started a smartcard telephone facility at Yerwada jail so that prisoners get to speak to their families. Their meeting timings have been increased. Hot water facilities have been started in jails. Also undertrial prisoners above the age of 40 years are allowed to get pillows and sleeping pads from their homes or they can buy the same from the prison canteen. The canteen items are also being revised. A committee has been formed to revise furlough and parole rules. When the recommendations come in, we will examine them. A staff of 2,000 prison officials is also being approved by the government.
How does the smart card phone facility work?
The inmate can give us pre-decided numbers and those are fed in the smart card. The inmate can call three numbers of their choice and can call thrice a month. Once the talk time is exhausted, the card stops working and the inmate has to get it recharged. Video calling facility is also being worked out.
Recently there was an incident wherein a sessions court in Mumbai granted medical bail to a 62-year-old prisoner two days after he died at JJ Hospital. What do you have to say about the coordination between prisons and courts to ensure such incidents do not occur?
Coordination is there between the prison and the courts. We actually have very little role to play in this.
The videoconferencing facility proved extremely useful during the pandemic, since it lessened the issue of ferrying the prisoner and also curtailed the risk in travelling to court. Is the facility still on in prisons?
Videoconferencing facility in court is still on. The court takes a call if it wants to do the proceedings over the VC or wants the physical presence of the inmate. Another thing is that the prisoners are in favour of physical presence in courts, since it is an opportunity for them to step out of jail.
In the past allegations have been made that some prisoners are given special or VIP treatment in jails and things such as contraband or phones are sneaked in. What do you have to say on this issue of corruption in jails?
Whenever we receive a complaint we look into it seriously and if anything is found inside the jail, we register an offence with the police. Now we are providing phones legally so smuggling of phones will be curtailed.
