As the festival of lights approaches, around 42,000 inmates from prisons across Maharashtra are set to receive gift-wrapped parcels of hope from the state Prisons Department.
As part of various measures announced just before Diwali, the old bulky wool kambals given to inmates will be replaced by 100 percent cotton blankets made in prison textile units. The monthly spending and money order receiving limits for inmates have been increased. And to top it all, the smartcard-based calling facility will now be extended to all prisons in the state, ringing hope starting this festive season.
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The series of measures aimed at providing a better correctional ecosystem for the inmates were an outcome of the recent meetings of top officials from the Maharashtra Prison Department chaired by Additional Director General Amitabh Gupta towards the end of October, officials said.
In a significant step, the smartcard-based phones, which were installed inside Yerawada Central Prison on experimental basis in May earlier this year, will be installed in the prisons across the state making communication of the inmates with family members easier. Prisons across Maharashtra have traditionally had payphones installed on the premises to be used by the inmates who fulfill prescribed criteria of good behaviour and the type of crime for which they are incarcerated. Many of these coinbox payphones were due for repair and new units are not easily available in the market.
A proposal was received earlier this year by the Prison Department from a Tamil Nadu-based entity to provide smartcard-based phones to jails in Maharashtra. After preliminary scrutiny and security clearance the Home Department of Maharashtra had given a nod in May to install smartcard-based phones for inmates at Yerawada Central Prison on an experimental basis. From this Diwali these phones will be available in all 54 prisons across the state in a phased manner.
In another measure, old and bulky kambals, which are blankets made with a mix of locally available wool and cotton, will soon be phased out. These blankets are not just heavy, but can also be unsuitable during certain weathers. These kambals will be replaced by 100 percent cotton blankets made in the textile units of the Maharashtra prisons. The full cotton blankets are locally known as Solapur Chaddar or Diamond Chaddar. Officials said each inmate is provided with a kit that comprises a pillow, a blanket and a bedding sheet. The cotton blankets will be made available in each of the prisons across the state, as part of this kit, in a phased manner. The order in this regard was issued on November 2.
Prison administration has also announced that men and women inmates who are above the age of 30 years will be able to get thicker bedding from the canteen or commissary of respective prisons. This facility was earlier available only for inmates above the age of 40.
Last but not the least, another gift that a large section of prison inmates have received just before Diwali this year is the raise in the monthly spending limits and the upper cap on monthly money order of the prison inmates. It is pertinent to note that convicts across the prisons in the state are employed in various industrial units like carpentry, metal work, leather work, soap making, bakery and snacks production, textile manufacturing units and agriculture. For the employment in these units, the convicts or pakka kaidis, as they are called, are classified as skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Following a recent hike in their daily wages in August, these three types of inmates get Rs 74, 67 and 50 for everyday’s work respectively. The inmates from the open jails in the state get Rs 94 for their day’s work.
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Every convict in the jail has an account in which wages are deposited. While some use the money to buy objects of daily needs from the jail commissary, some others send the money home. These inmates get their all saved earnings of the jail term upon their release. In addition, each of the convicts is allowed to receive private funds to his prison account every month through money order which he or she can use in prison commissary. Starting this Diwali the limit of receiving funds, which was Rs 6,000 per month, has been revised to Rs 8,000 and the spending limit, which was Rs 8,000, has been revised to Rs 10,000. The last time there was a hike in wages around Diwali was in 2017.
Meanwhile, the annual special Diwali sale of various artifacts and products made in the prisons’ industrial units across Maharashtra was inaugurated on November 5 at the showroom of the jail products located near Yerawada Prison. The sale was inaugurated by Marathi actress Sonalee Kulkarni in the presence of senior prison officials. Various furniture and woodwork items, wooden decorative items, Diwali lamps, leather goods, textile units items like bedsheets, towels, bakery products and Diwali faral all made by prison inmates have been put for sale.
According to the latest number on prison population of Maharashtra, as many as 41,993 inmates are lodged in prisons across the state that have a sanctioned capacity of 25,393. This constitutes an overall overcrowding of 65 per cent. Maharashtra has a total of 54 prisons that include nine maximum security central prisons, 19 minimum security open prisons and 28 district jails. Of the total population, 6,799 are convicts, 33,689 undertrials and 338 under preventive detention. The nine central prisons are further overcrowded with a total number of inmates of 28,823 as against the capacity of 16,110 which constitutes overcrowding of close to 79 per cent.
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