BENGALURU: While it’s a known fact that most of the prisons in Karnataka are overcrowded, the data tabled by Home Minister G Parameshwara in the Council on Thursday revealed that some prisons are housing inmates at double their capacity.
Replying to a question by BJP MLC Prathap Simha Nayak K, Parameshwara said the 54 prisons in the state can accommodate 14,237 inmates but they house 16,053 inmates currently. He said the prisons include nine central prisons, 21 district prisons, 23 taluk sub-jails and an open jail and they were overcrowded by 12.76% (as on July 5, 2023).
The data revealed that the capacity of Bengaluru Central Prison, the biggest in Karnataka, is 4,146 but 5,261 inmates were lodged there, exceeding by 26.89% of its capacity. Gadag district prison, which can house 48 inmates, was accommodating 124 prisoners, which is 158.33% more than its capacity. Similarly, Gokak prison has 83 inmates as against its capacity of 40 inmates.
Some of the other overcrowded prisons are Ramanagara district prison (39.91%), Kolar district prison (68.29%), Mysore central prison (48.58%), Mangaluru district prison (75.71%), Chikkamgalauru district prison (74.50%), and Kalaburagi central prison (64.04%).
The Home Minister said construction of prisons with 1,000 capacity was taken up in Bengaluru (high-security prison), Mangaluru, Vijayapura and Bidar, besides, additional barracks were being constructed at eight prisons, which can house another 1,345 inmates.