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| Govt mulls revamp, remodeling of jails | | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 14: In the aftermath of incidents of militants' escape, the state government is mulling revamping the security of the jails and also their remodeling for enhancing their capacity
A Pakistani militant escaped from Srinagar's SMHS Hospital when he was taken for the medical checkup last week. He managed to escape after militants attacked the security forces and killed two policemen.
Sources said that government was considering strengthening the security of the prisons in the state and installation of CCTV cameras around prisons in the valley.
An official of the police department said that CCTVs were already installed at several places in Srinagar for security but many were defunct. "Scores of places have already been identified for installation of new CCTVs," the official said.
The official said that prisons in Kashmir remain overburdened.
"We are facing a tough time to accommodate new prisoners due to lack of space in some prisons including the Central Jail Srinagar. There are always chances that minor scuffles could turn into major clashes as barracks of most of the prisons in Kashmir are packed beyond capacity," a senior official of prisons department said that number of detainees has increased for the last 25 years due to ongoing disturbance in the Valley.
Presently, there are 15 jails in the state with intake capacity of around 3000. Sources said some of the prisons have been lodging prisoners double their existing capacity.
He said the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) had pulled up the state government several times due to congestion in prisons for accommodating more prisoners than the capacity. In order to overcome the problems of overburdened jails, sources said government wants to establish prison in each district of the Valley. "We are considering remodeling prisons to increase their intake capacity," the official said. "Government is now considering to establish prison in each district. Upgradation of the health facilities is also under consideration so that there is no need to take prisoners outside the jail" the official said.
Sources reveal that the Central jail Srinagar was the most overburdened due to increasing number of jail inmates. The Central jail comprises of over 17 barracks with one special block.
However government has made a proposal to shift the district jail Srinagar to other place. "There is a lot of pressure on the Central Jail Srinagar due to increasing number of detenues. There is no scope to expand it at its present location, hence there is a proposal to shift it to outskirts of Srinagar," a senior official said.
While most of them remain 'over-crowded' with prisoners, the police have been putting up prisoners in police stations for days together. According to National Crime Records Bureau records out of 184 prisioners who managed to escape from police station lock-ups in 2015, 19 fled in Jammu and Kashmir alone. |
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