BHUBANESWAR: Even as the DG Prisons faces heat from the Orissa High Court for appalling living conditions of prisoners in jails, the State government has sanctioned Rs 39 crore for modernisation of prisons in the State during the financial year 2022-2023.
The funds are 56 per cent more than the sanctioned amount during 2021-2022 financial year. The State government has also sanctioned Rs 10 crore to carry out repairs and renovation works of the jail buildings during the current financial year, which is 100 per cent more as compared to financial year 2021-2022.
Besides, Rs 9 crore has been received as grant-in-aid from Ministry of Home Affairs during financial year 2021-2022 and the amount will be utilised in correctional administration, training prison officers, skill development and rehabilitation of inmates and to engage trained/behavioural experts and psychologists.
Earlier this week, the High Court directed the DG Prisons to ensure that all wards and toilets in prisons are clean and inmates are provided good quality food. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik issued the stern directive to the State Prison authority while expressing “deepest concern” over the appalling condition of toilets in the Koraput sub-jail and “not fit for human consumption” food being given to the inmates.
The Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay on Wednesday informed that the government has sanctioned 18 new posts for doctors in jail hospitals. Currently, there are 17 doctors and 73 contractual doctors in the jail hospitals of the State. In a bid to ensure mental well-being of the inmates, the department of Health and Family Welfare has initiated regular visits of psychiatrists and psychologists to the jails.
“All jail hospitals will now be covered under the Niramaya scheme of Odisha State Medical Corporation to supply medicines for prisoners,” Upadhyay informed. The existing jail hospitals are being equipped with new beds, wheel-chairs, ECG machines, glucometers, oximeters, digital bed monitors and blood pressure devices, among others. Seven new hospitals in various jails are also under construction, he added.