To complete the design for the much awaited high-rise jail in the Mankhurd district, the Maharashtra state prison system is looking at the multi-storey prisons in China, Singapore, and Chicago. The goal of this project is to alleviate the overcrowding in the prisons near Mumbai. Official statistics indicate that there are 40,428 prisoners in Maharashtra jails at present; however, its total capacity is 27,931.
The Maharashtra Housing Department is responsible for building the prison on the five acres of land in Mandala a few months ago after consulting with the relevant agency. For this, the work is expected to commence soon, said ADG Prison Amitabh Gupta. Meanwhile, the projects in Palghar and Yerwada are currently at an advanced level.
With this, it is anticipated to lower the overcrowding that exists in Maharashtra prison, which is currently greater than the facility's capacity.
An official from the Maharashtra jail stated that we must learn how multi-story jails operate, how to manage inmates, give a variety of amenities, and how to relocate them throughout the institution because we are not used to seeing them in this capacity. The department officials are studying blueprints from different prisons across the world because the construction will be different from a standard building.
The officials added that they are investigating whether to utilise the entire FSI or to leave some area free for the prisoner sports facilities. According to the data, Maharashtra keeps 40,428 prisoners in 60 prisons, each of which can hold 27,931 inmates.
The data indicates that Mumbai's prisons are likewise overcrowded and that a large number of bail requests that are pending in court are for minor infractions. As per official records, the 999-inmate Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai is home to 3,700 prisoners. Despite having a capacity of 2,100, Taloja Prison in Navi Mumbai currently houses 2,800 inmates. Similar to this, the 1,100 capacity Thane Jail and the 505 capacity Kalyan Jail can hold 3,000 and 2,800 prisoners respectively.
Senior lawyer Dr. Sujay Kantawala told Mid day that in non-serious cases it is can be seen that a huge number of under-trials are languishing in jails. Bail is the rule rather than the exception, and the harsh reality on the ground serves as a painful reminder that this policy is not being followed in letter or spirit. The overcrowding in jails lead to fights even for crumbs. The Supreme Court has repeatedly expressed its concern about the overcrowding of jails across the nation. It is the duty of Courts, prosecutors and the concerned Government Authorities to conduct immediate surveys of jail. This will reveal that hundreds of men and women are fighting for various reasons.
Now it is taking a lot of years even to commence trials. Everyone involved has a need to move quickly since the longer the undertrial stays in the risky organisation, the more unlikely reform would become, and the worse it would be for our society as a whole, he added.
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