From now on, people visiting prisoners lodged in jails across the state and wanting to interview them will have to produce a photo identity proof to confirm their identity. The prisons department had initiated a series of steps with respect to prisoners and their conditions in various jails.
Director general of prisons T P Das said that they instructed the prison officials to obtain the visitor’s identity proof before granting them request for interview with prisoners. “On an average, about 1,000 visitors approach prison authorities daily for interview permission. To avoid impersonation with false and fictitious name and addresses, the authorities will now request all visitors to submit original photo identity proof of any kind along with the interview petitions,” Das said.
Sale of cigarettes to prisoners too would be rationed to wean away the inmates from smoking. All smokers will be lodged in separate barracks so that non-smoking prisoners are not exposed to smoke.
Das said the department had sent proposals to the government to engage psychiatrists and social counsellors on honorarium basis after review of extent of mental illness/depression among convicts and undertrial prisoners in all central prisons of the state.