HYDERABAD: With the CBI and ACB officials on an overdrive and new prisoners crowding up the Chanchalguda central prison every other day, the completion of its eighth barrack has come as a big relief to the occupants. The AP Prisons Department is all set to shift some of the prisoners to the newly constructed twostorey barrack by midMarch.
The more than a century old Chanchalguda prison currently accommodates around 700 inmates while its capacity is only 650. Its current strength is in fact a tad better than in the past when it even had to make space for over 900 inmates at a time. But the difference now seems to be the influx of VIP and VVIP prisoners in the last six months.
The new barrack can accommodate around 800 inmates and has three blocks, of which one will be made into a special class cell block for the new crowds of highclass inmates. The special cells would have a kitchen and its inmates would be provided with a bed with mattress, blankets, pillows, mosquito nets, table, chair and other facilities.
Adding the new block, the prison will have eight blocks. At present, the Old Hospital Block was used to house special category prisoners.
"With the new barrack, the Chanchalguda prison would be a modernised prison like the Cherlapally jail," said superintendent of the prison K Kesava Naidu, adding that some inmates would be shifted to the new barrack in the second week of March.