New Delhi, Feb 23: Overcrowded jails in the capital
including Tihar may soon get a breather due to changes in the
Criminal Procedure Code which is likely to provide a reprieve
to about 2,500 inmates.
The new amendments in the CrPC would reduce
"overcrowding in jails to a very large extent as after that
their strength would be around 9,000 from the current 11,553,"
Director General (Prisons) B K Gupta told a news agency.
CrPC amendments give police the discretion to arrest an
accused in offences punishable with a jail term upto seven
years.
A total of 11,553 inmates are lodged in 10 jails in
Delhi, which include nine central jails in Tihar and one
district jail in Rohini, against the capacity of 6,250, which
is about 185 per cent of the total occupancy.
About 81 per cent of the total prison population
comprises undertrials including 9,138 males and 414 females.
Of the nine jails, Jail number one has 1,452 inmates
against a capacity of 565 -- 257 per cent overcrowding, jail
two has 1,015 inmates against 455 -- 223 per cent
overcrowding. Similarly, jail three is 195 per cent
overcrowded having 1,443 inmates against sanctioned strength
of 740.
The other jails, that is, jail number four, five, six,
seven, eight and nine are 258 per cent, 169 percent, 118 percent, 185 percent and 139 percent occupied respectively.
Last year, the jail admitted a total of 48,353 inmates of
which 39,979 male and 1,515 female were undertrials, 6,654
male and 113 female convicts, and 66 and 26 males as detenues
and civil prisoners.
Also, a total of 48,405 inmates were released last year,
prison authorities said.
Also new jails, which are coming up in Mandoli, Narela
and Baprola, will also ease the situation in Tihar.
"The Mandoli jail, a complex of six jails having the
capacity of 3,136 inmates, is likely to be functional by
November 2010," Gupta said.
Bureau Report