US-inspired multi-storied prison proposed to deal with overcrowding in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Prison

IN order to deal with overcrowding in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Prison, the Maharashtra Prison Department has proposed a multi-storied prison on the lines of some correctional facilities in the US, the state prison department chief Sunil Ramanand said on Tuesday.

Ramanand said on Tuesday that the new prison would accommodate around 5,000 inmates. In January, the then-Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh had announced that a proposal was under consideration to construct multiple new jails with modern amenities to ease the existing overcrowding of inmates.

“At present, the Arthur Road Jail is crowded and there is no scope for any further expansion. In view of the prison population, there is an urgent need to build another facility in Mumbai. But there is a constraint of land availability. We are planning to build a multi-storied prison in Mumbai on the lines of a correctional facility at Miami in the USA.” Ramanand said adding that a plot of land had also been identified for this purpose.

“The proposed prison would house around 5,000 undertrial inmates and would considerably ease the pressure off the present facility at Arthur Road jail,” Ramanand said. He further said that along with this, proposals were also under consideration to build new prisons in Hingoli, Palghar, Gondia and also Pune.