India: Telangana province offers its jails on rent

By APD Writer Rishika Chauhan

NEW DELHI, July 29 (APD)— Telangana province is offering its prisons for rent to other provinces whose prisons are overcrowded. According to reports, the rent of the jail cells will be Rs 10,000 (around 155 USD) a month for each prisoner.

However, the Telangana jail authorities have clarified that the offer is not for under trials and hardcore criminals and the scheme is limited to convicts of “non-grievous and non-serious” offences.

VK Singh, the director general of prisons explained, “Norway, where the crime rate has gone down considerably, started this practice of letting its prisons to neighboring countries facing space shortage for prisoners. We want to adopt this. The money would contribute to making our jails self-reliant”

Telangana has 50 jails, which can accommodate 6,848 prisoners. Currently, there are only 6,063 registered prisoners, leaving lodging space for around 800 more. The scheme is expected to begin next year after making space for about 2,000 prisoners.

According to reports, jails in many big provinces like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are dealing with overcrowding, though a number of reform-oriented programs have lessened the number of repeat-offenders in the past three years.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)