The 109-year-old high security Alipore Central Correctional home in the city officially closed down on Wednesday due to security purpose after all its inmates being shifted to other correctional homes.
It’s an end of an era for Kolkata, as the jail had as its prisoners at various times freedom fighters and leaders like Sri Aurobindo, his brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sarat Ch Bose, K Kamraj and Bidhan Chandra Roy during the Independence movement.
“We decided to close the prison due to security purposes. The condition of this 100 year old prison is not good. Besides, you will hardly find any modern prision in middle of a city. So we decided to move to the newly built Baruipur prison,” Correctional Homes Minister Ujjal Biswas told PTI.
The height of the Alipore Central jails walls are 6.5 metres, while those at the Baruipur jail are a metre higher. The Alipore Central jail can accomodate 1800 convicts but Baruipur jail can accomodate 2200 convicts, the minister said.
