Mumbai, Thane jails house inmates nearly thrice their normal capacity

Graphic/Ravi Jadhav

In cities like Mumbai and Thane, overcrowding is not limited to the local trains alone. According to the Maharashtra Prisons department report (mid-day has a copy), prisons in Mumbai and Thane are facing severe overcrowding, with Arthur Road, Thane central and Kalyan jails housing inmates nearly thrice their normal capacity. Byculla and Taloja jails also have more than their limit of inmates, but the situation is not as grim as the others.

As per the report, the overcrowding is at 141 per cent. This is also causing fights between the inmates and in some cases, even health issues, as was observed at a medical camp held in June at Yerawada jail, where many inmates were found to have skin problems. Overcrowding in Mumbai and Thane's jails occurs primarily because the criminals are facing trial in city court, and the procedure requires them to physically present for them. If they're housed outside, transportation becomes another problem. Apart from that, Mumbai faces another hurdle in reducing the capacity of inmates - the lack of land in the city to build another jail to put them in.

To resolve the issue, the Bombay High Court had told the state government in March 2017 to take immediate steps to identify places in Mumbai and Pune to construct additional jails. B K Upadhyay, additional director general of prisons, said that to tackle the problem, they are doing internal expansion, like adding new barracks and building a new prison at Mankhurd.

23.9k
Inmate capacity of all jails in Maharashtra

33.7k
Total no. of inmates in jails in Maharashtra

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