BENGALURU:Although the Prisons Department has informed the Karnataka High Court that there is 3% overcrowding in 105 prisons in the state, at least in 11 prisons the crowding varies from 44% to 98%. According to an affidavit submitted to the High Court, among 11 prisons, the least overcrowding is 44% in Bengaluru Central Prison and the highest — 98% — in Central Prison at Vijayapura — which is almost double the capacity limit.
The affidavit has been filed by the Additional Inspector General of Prisons G Veerabhadraswamy in response to the directives issued by the High Court which took up a suo-motu petition in compliance with Supreme Court directives with regard to overcrowding in prisons.
According to the affidavit, there are 105 prisons in Karnataka, including nine central prisons, 21 district prisons, 30 taluk jails, 44 revenue taluk jails and one open air jail. The total capacity of the prisons is 13,800, but the inmate population is 14,206 as on June 18, 2018. The total excess population is 406 which constitutes 3% overcrowding.
However, individual prisons if considered, in 11 prisons, the overcrowding varies from 44% to 98%. In Central Prison at Bengaluru, 1,407 prisoners are in excess of the fixed capacity, which comes to 44% overcrowding.
In order to ease the problem of overcrowding, a new central prison at Shivamogga with an authorised accommodation for 600 prisoners was made functional in January 2018 and construction of a new female prison to accommodate 500 inmates within the premises of central prison in the city is under progress. There is also a proposed construction of high security prison in Bengaluru to accommodate 1,000 people at a cost of `100 crore and it will be completed in a span of three years.
The land is being identified for the new prison in Mysuru and construction of Aland sub-jail is under progress. It has also been proposed to construct additional barracks within the premises of central prison in Kalaburagi and Sedam, while 48 acres of land has been sanctioned for the new central prison to accommodate 1,000 inmates in Bidar, besides 40 acres sanctioned in Vijayapura for construction of a new central prison.