Coimbatore: The Coimbatore central prison on Thursday suspended two warders who were on the duty at the Tower Block when a prisoner committed suicide on Wednesday. The warders were suspended for negligence of duty.
According to prison sources, eight prisoners had died due to ill-health and a convict prisoner committed suicide at the prison since 2018. Prisoners are under severe depression though they were provided with counselling.
R Srinivasan, 48, of Veerappan Chatram in Erode district, was arrested by the Sathyamangalam police for raping a woman in 2015. He was convicted by the Erode sessions court and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was lodged at the Tower Block of the Coimbatore central prison.
On Wednesday morning, Srinivasan committed suicide at the accountant’s room at Tower Block–I inside the prison. Prison sources said that all the convict prisoners were released from the cell at 6am on Wednesday. While a few went to the prison industry for work, others were chatting in the Tower Block–I hall. Meanwhile, Srinivasan committed suicide. Warder S Palanivelu and chief head warder D Thirunavukkarasu, who were responsible for the protection of the inmates of Tower Block –I, were suspended for negligence of duty.
“Srinivasan was lodged at the Coimbatore central prison since 2016 in connection with the rape case. Initially, his family members refused to meet him and visit the jail. He slipped into depression. We convinced his elder brother Venkatachalam to meet Srinivasan. He visited the prison on April 24 and met Srinivasan. We had given counselling to Srinivasan but he took the extreme step,” superintendent of prisons (Coimbatore central prison) M Senthil Kumar said.
He said due to age factor, many convicts and remand prisoners suffer from heart ailments. “We have a hospital located inside the prison and provide treatment to prisoners round-the-clock. In case of emergency, we immediately shift the prisoners to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital. We can’t be blamed for natural deaths,” Senthil Kumar said.
“The state government had appointed two full-time counsellors to provide counselling to the prisoners,” he said.
A counsellor who often visited the Coimbatore central prison told TOI that prisoners who had spent more than 10 years in the prison expected their release during the MGR centenary function. Though the government announced the release of a few life convicts but it didn’t release them. These prisoners were depressed.