Jails in Madhya Pradesh overcrowded, says minister

Though the jails capacity in state was 24,103 prisoners, around 32,806 inmates are in the prisons across the state, Devda said in his reply in the assembly.

To do away with overcrowding, he said that 314 new barracks have come up and 97 more are under-construction and will be ready by this year-end.

He said that the additional barracks will accommodate 8,220 prisoners. The Minister said that 1.36 lakh prisoners have undergone health check up exercise in the state, and prisoners are getting medical attention.

As a result of this, the Minister said mortality rate in the jails in the state has gone down to 2.28 per cent per 1000 prisoners, as compared to jails of other state where it was 3.81 per cent.

Devda said that 12,900 undertrials have been made literate in the jail this year and technical education was also being imparted to the prisoners to ensure that they earn their livelihood.

He said that Madhya Pradesh has taken a lead in the country in charting out its own transport policy which has already got the Cabinet's nod and will come into force shortly.