Bangalore: Separate Prison for Women at Tumkur, Supermax Status for 4 Others

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Mar 17: A separate prison  for women is proposed to be built in Tumkur and four existing ones at Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary and Mysore will be upgraded to supermax status, Karnataka’s Prisons and Social Welfare Minister A Narayanaswamy announced in Bangalore on Saturday.

The minister said the old prison located in Tumkur would be upgraded and developed as separate prison for female prisoners. Funds required for the project have already been sanctioned for the purpose.

There were 13,000 inmates in various central, district and sub-jails in the State. Out of 13,000 prisoners, 500 were females.

The Minister was speaking after the inauguration of an all India conference of Director General/Inspector General of Prisons held in Bangalore..

The existing prisons in Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary and Mysore would be developed as high security prisons by installing high-tech equipment and sufficient staff would be provided to man them, he said.

Director of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) A R Kini, who delivered key note address, said administration of prisons and adoption of best practices in security, escorting of undertrials, skill development of inmates, health and supply of food to prisoners are major challenges that prison officials have been facing these days.

Earlier, Home Department Principal Secretary S M Jamdar said undertrials involved in petty crimes would be shifted to district and sub-jails to address the problem of overcrowding of prison in Bangalore and some districts.

Jammer system would be installed in all the jails to prevent use of cell phones by prisoners, he said.

K V Gagan Deep, ADGP & IG of Prisons, Karnataka, and delegates from other states attended the programme.