HYDERABAD: Three Central prisons in Telangana have close to 99.86 per cent occupancy, an increase of 22.92 per cent from the previous year, according to 2019 prison statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Although it is much below the national average of 123 per cent, it points at the need for decongest the prisons amidst the global pandemic. The available capacity in three jails is 4,196 and it is filled to the brim with 4,190 prisoners which accounts for 62.37 per cent of total prisoners in the State. Telangana has a total capacity of 7,785, and, 6,717 convicts and 4,84 undertrial prisoners are lodged in 37 prisons.
The data also shows that 63 per cent of prisoners are serving life imprisonment against the national average of 53.5 per cent. According to the data, there are 75 foreigners including 10 women, of these 10 have been convicted and 65 are undertrials. Just like the national trend, the data also shows that the number of SCs, STs, and Muslims imprisoned in TS jails is disproportionate to their population. Of the 6,717 convicted prisoners, 1,278 are Dalits, 858 are Adivasis, and 1,673 are Muslims. Surprisingly, there are only 89 convicts in rape (218 undertrials), nine convicts in assault on women with intent to outrage modesty (50 undertrials), and, 151 convicts of offences against women (61 undertrials). There are 54 undertrials under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The data shows that TS produces 73.25 per cent of total goods produced by inmates across the country. Goods worth `599.89 crore were produced by TS prisoners followed by Tamil Nadu- `72.96 crore. The value of goods produced per inmate was highest in TS at `8.93 lakh followed by Tamil Nadu with `49,611, in 2019.