To work & back to Tihar every day

Ray · Feb 1, 2012

To work & back to Tihar every day

New Delhi, Jan. 31: Behave well, step out of jail.

Select inmates of Tihar jail can now work outside the high-security walls of Asiaâ€™s biggest prison, provided, of course, they have not violated jail manuals and their conduct has been good.

The inmates will have to come back to their cells at night.

The move to allow well-behaved prisoners to work outside the jail complex follows a recent nod from the Delhi government to a rehabilitation plan worked out by jail authorities.

â€œWe will allow select inmates to leave the prison walls to work outside for a stipulated period every day and return to their respective cells at night. This is the first time we will be starting this facility in the jail since its inception 44 years ago,â€ said director-general (prisons) Neeraj Kumar.

The rehab plan, however, does not cover those convicted of offences against the state or those serving life terms. These inmates will have to continue working at the jail factory within the Tihar complex.

â€œThose who have pending court cases against them or who have been convicted of serious offences like terrorism and sedition will not be eligible for the facility. Convicts who violated jail manuals and were involved in clashes inside the jail will also not be allowed outside,â€ Kumar said.

Undertrials, too, will not be eligible for the facility. Which means former minister A. Raja, one of the high-profile accused in the telecom scam, will have to remain jobless.

Kumar said the process of selecting the eligible inmates was under way. â€œOnly those who have been sentenced for five to ten years and have a remaining two years to serve can avail themselves of the facility. Another important condition is that the convicts must have behaved well during their stay at the jail and also obeyed three paroles.â€

This rules out the likes of Manu Sharma, who is serving a life term for the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lal, from being eligible for the work-outside plan. Apart from the fact that he is serving a life sentence, Sharma was in 2009 found partying in a discotheque in the capital after he was granted parole to just visit his ailing mother in Chandigarh and attend his grandmotherâ€™s last rites.

Kumar said the work-outside plan would go a long way towards rehabilitating inmates after their release. â€œThe eligible convicts would enjoy a bit more freedom and it will also help rehabilitate them.â€

Tihar prisoners now work at the jail bakery, one of the several vocational training programmes the jail authorities run for the inmates. Many also work in the jail factory, making wooden furniture, clothes and pottery products.

â€œThe inmates are paid wages for their work,â€ said a jail official.

The wages vary according to individual ability â€” Rs 99 a day for the skilled, Rs 81 for the semi-skilled and Rs 70 for the unskilled.

The jail houses over 12,000 prisoners, three-fourths of them undertrials.

Following the Delhi governmentâ€™s nod, superintendents of each of Tiharâ€™s 10 jails have been asked to draw up a list of convicts and send it to a committee appointed by the authorities to decide who would be eligible for the work-outside facility.

To work & back to Tihar every day
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A novel idea.

It will also reduce the burden on the Jail authorities by day.

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

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