RAIPUR: In a stride toward prison reform and social reintegration, the Chhattisgarh state government is set to inaugurate six new open jails on October 2, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti.
The initiative aims to ease inmates back into mainstream society by removing the psychological strain of high prison walls and granting daytime freedom to work.
Eligible inmates will be permitted to step out during daylight hours to pursue livelihoods based on their skills and interests—ranging from agriculture and construction to tailoring, handicrafts, and self-employment—before returning to the facility at dusk.
As part of the rollout across regions including Raipur, Bilaspur, Ambikapur, and Durg, Jagdalpur Central Jail will see 50 well-behaved inmates (25 men and 25 women) transition into the open jail framework.
Freedom within the open jail framework is strictly earned. Under the state gazette guidelines, candidates must be aged between 30 and 60 years, have maintained an unblemished disciplinary record, and have completed at least seven years of their minimum 10-year or life sentences.
Authorities have drawn clear boundaries regarding who is barred from the programme. Disqualifications cover 11 specific categories, including individuals convicted of offences against the state or armed forces, those whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, and offenders convicted under 44 sections of the IPC and 46 sections of the BNS.
Highlighting the project's practicality, senior police officials in the Jail Department stated that the open jails are being established using the state's existing infrastructure, ensuring zero additional financial burden on the public exchequer. Instead, the model focuses on unlocking practical rehabilitation, vocational training, and self-reliance, offering disciplined convicts a genuine path back to normal civic life.
Across the state, facilities have been designated with specific capacities:
Bemetara: 200 male inmates
Durg: 50 male inmates
Jagdalpur: 50 inmates (25 men, 25 women)
Raipur: 25 female inmates
Ambikapur: 15 male inmates
Bilaspur: 10 inmates (5 men, 5 women)
In Chhattisgarh, the overcrowded spaces across the 33 prisons, including the five Central jails, remain challenging. There are over 18,700 inmates against the existing capacity of 14,383 in the state.
Chhattisgarh has five Central, 20 district, and eight sub-jails.
