CUDDALORE: Director-General of Police (Prisons) R. Natraj inaugurated a women sub-jail built at the cost of Rs. 2 crore on the Cuddalore Central Prison premises here on Wednesday.
Mr. Natraj said that the sub-jail had come up on 1.95 acres on the 177-acre prison campus and could accommodate 100 inmates. Built by the Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation within a year, it was provided with all basic amenities, a pharmacy and a crèche.
At present, the Villupuram sub-jail had about 70 inmates as against its sanctioned strength of 40. The excess number of inmates would be shifted to the Cuddalore sub-jail, he said.
Henceforward there would not be any need to transport women offenders from Cuddalore to places such as Salem, Tiruchi, Vellore and Villupuram. It would enable better deployment of manpower and cut transport cost.
Mr. Natraj said that there were 14 separate sub-jails for women in Tamil Nadu, which no other State could boast of. During his tenure as Inspector-General of Police (Prohibition enforcement wing) he had learnt that majority of prohibition offenders were women. In Cuddalore and Villupuram districts, women were at the front-end of illicit trade and in “black spot” villages, they were unaware that it was illegal.
Mr. Natraj said that such women should not be arrested as a matter of routine but their illicit brew and wares be seized. They should be assisted through “rehabilitation of prohibition offenders’ funds.”
It was ironical that a visually impaired person, facing charges of smashing windscreens of a bus, was kept in Madurai prison. Humanitarian concern should precede any arrest and mere transferring of problem from police station to prison would not provide a solution, Mr. Natraj said.
Superintendent of Police Pradip Kumar said that prisons had now become house of reforms. The sub-jail would provide safety and security to the inmates and safeguard their dignity. It would help them turn a new leaf.
Principal District and Sessions Judge T. Ramapathiran said that a renaissance had come about in prison administration now as prisons had morphed into reformative schools.
Deputy Inspector-General of Prisons R. Durairaj, Jail Superintendent R. Kanagaraj and Additional Superintendent R. Jayaraman participated.
Mr. Natraj also inaugurated a carpentry training programme and gave away certificates to 29 inmates, who had successfully completed diploma courses in refrigeration, fashion designing, motor winding and borewell technology offered by the Tamil Nadu Open University.
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