CUTTACK: Choudwar Circle Jail has come up with a dedicated psychiatric hospital to provide quality treatment to mentally ill prisoners. The 80-bed hospital constructed at an estimated cost over ` one crore was inaugurated by Director General of Prisons Santosh Kumar Upadhyay on Saturday. The hospital has also six high security cells for treatment of aggressive patients.
“Earlier, prisoners suffering from mental illness were being admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for treatment. Now, the they will be treated in the jail itself. The hospital is functioning from an exclusive block,” said Choudwar Jail Superintendent Subhakanta Mishra.
At present, the jail has 924 inmates of whom, 74 are suffering from mental health issues. “Due to the high number of mentally ill prisoners, we were facing serious problems in providing necessary treatment to them. Now, these prisoners will be treated in the jail itself. Only critical cases will be referred to SCB Mental Health Institute,” Mishra said.
Upadhyay, who inspected different wings and activities of the prison, also stressed augmentation of the jail food processing unit. “Considering the mushrooming adulterating food units in the city, we have planned to enhance the output of different food items produced by the jail inmates and their marketing by setting up stalls at different places,” said Upadhyay.
This will help in increasing revenue and enhancing inmates’ income. “While steps are being taken to increase the production and marketing of mustard oil, efforts are on for marketing of flour which is now being prepared by the inmates and used in making breads for the prisoners. We have also decided to go for preparing turmeric powder and gram flour at the food processing unit,” he said.