Prisoners who are currently struggling for space in the 90-year-old Arthur Road Jail will soon live the high life, in a manner of speaking
Illustration/Uday Mohite
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Prisoners who are currently struggling for space in the 90-year-old Arthur Road Jail will soon live the high life, in a manner of speaking. The city’s biggest prison is notoriously overcrowded, so much so that inmates often break into fights over space. To resolve this crisis, the prison authorities have decided to redesign the facility and raise the barracks to ground+2 structures.
The British-era jail was built to hold no more than 800 inmates, but currently houses 2,500 inmates.
“Ideally, an inmate should get a minimum of 4×6 ft. But, conditions in Arthur Road Jail are extremely pathetic,” said a jail official.
It was built in 1926, initially meant to be a transit prison outside city limits. Over the years, however, the city has engulfed the 2.83-acre prison compound, which is now surrounded by slum dwellings. The authorities have repeatedly requested the state for a larger piece of land to build a bigger prison, said sources. Finally, 10 days ago, the authorities suggested to the head of the prison department that instead of looking for another location, the current compound can simply be redesigned to resolve the overcrowding issue. One of the major changes in the proposed plan is to add an extra floor to the barracks, which are currently ground+1 structures – this move alone will increase the jail capacity almost double-fold.
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ADG (Prisons) BK Upadhyay said, “We are in talks with the government about increasing the capacity at Arthur Road Jail by raising the barracks from ground+1 to ground+2. It would definitely tackle the problem of overcrowding effectively.”
Win-win
Another jail officer said that the jail is just 10 years shy of being a century old, and it would have to go into redevelopment soon anyway. Acquiring new land and building a new prison would have been a costly affair. “Instead, the current jail can just be expanded in less than R5 crore,” he said.
He added, “The barracks are currently built parallel to each other, like the Roman numeral ‘II’. It has been proposed that a U-shaped extension be added to join two barracks. This will also increase the capacity.”
Tighter security
The officials assured, however, that none of this would compromise on security arrangements. Second-floor windows will have view-cutters to prevent any mischief. The authorities also plan to install a high fence over the boundary walls to leave zero chances of escape. “The new design will also ensure that constables will have a wider view of the barracks and the bathrooms. This will prevent incidents like suicides,” he said.
Jail Superintendent Harshad Aherao said the proposal has been sent to the head office. Once the government gives the green signal, the final design will be chalked out with the help of experts, so the project can begin by next April.
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