Sub-jails closure plan put on hold due to lawyers’ resistance

HYDERABAD: The ambitious plan of the state prisons and correctional service department to close down five sub-jails in order to create homes for beggars, old aged people and destitutes has hit a road block as several advocates in rural districts are objecting to it.

Advocates based in rural districts say that closure of sub-jails will delay the process of availing bail by their clients. “The resistance to the move is for the sake of victims,” an advocate in Warangal said on condition of anonymity. “The sub-jail and the court are on the same premises and it would only be right for us to initiate the bail plea on the same day instead of delaying it till the next day,” he added.

Advocates from Warangal, apart from holding dharnas, have given a representation to State Civil Supplies Corporation chairman Peddi Sudarshan Reddy with their demand.

The government has released a Government Order (GO) to close five sub-jails following a decision taken by the prisons department.

The five sub-jails at Armoor and Bodhan in Nizamabad; Narsampet and Parkal in Warangal; and at Madhira in Khammam district are facing closure as the number of personnel deployed to take care of the sub-jails is more than that of the prisoners.  

The Narsampet and Parkal sub-jails are located at about 35 km away from the Warangal central jail.
“Advocates have protested against the move and even given representations to the home department asking it to rescind its decision to close the sub-jails. They have some kind of association with the buildings, maybe some heritage value,” said VK Singh, director-general of prisons and correctional services.

“The move to close down the sub-jails is on hold and the department is trying to convince the locals and the advocates that it is a waste of money to operate with a few prisoners,” he added.
Meanwhile. the delay in the closure of the sub-jails is set to postpone the department’s move to transform the empty buildings of the jails into social reformation centres.

State Prison’s dept to employe transgenders

The State prisons department has announced on Friday its plans to offer jobs to transgenders by employing them at the fuel stations that it intends to start by this year-end. Of the 100 fuel stations, five would be exclusive for transgender persons. The places for operations would be based on the concentration of transgenders in a locality. The department also proposed to set-up Swachh Gram Abhiyan, a series of social reformative steps targeted at reducing the crime rate