HYDERABAD: One might think that the prison is a safe place, at least for the prisoners. But in the State prisons, it is common for one to come out of the prison, after finishing their jail term with all their belongings lost. After a recent incident, in which a former inmate lodged a complaint in the Nalgonda district jail after his gold ring worth `60,000 was lost while in the jail, it came to the light that the belongings of the prisoners are not at all taken care off.
Though the prisons department ensures that particulars of the valuables an inmate possess is immediately recorded officially once the person reaches a jail, however, it is learnt that regular wearable like belt, trousers and wallets are not recorded in the registers. “We cannot keep a record of every wearable of a person, when they come to the prison. Valuable commodities are noted and are stored as per a numbering system, but non-valuable things are not stored that way,” said VK Singh, Director General of prisons and correctional services.
Apart from this, it is learnt that the complaints related to money being lost from inmates’ wallets and purses are also frequent. Every prison has a storeroom in which the non-valuable belongings are stored. Upon an inmate’s release from a prison, the belongings can be collected. But, retrieving the same colour belt or a cap while leaving the jail, is not quite often.
“In most cases, the actual wearables cannot be traced as the time between an inmate getting into the prison and getting out of the prison is long,” Singh pointed out. He added, “ Sometimes, the relatives of the inmate collect their belongings right after they enter the jail.”