Amid cold wave conditions, inmates in all the 16 Central Jails of Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli will start getting hot water for their bathing and sanitary needs with immediate effect. Apart from this, all prisoners above 65 years of age will get a mattress, in addition to a wooden cot and a durri that is provided to the prisoners.
According to the sources at Raj Niwas, this humane decision that will go a long way in taking care of basic human requirements of the inmates, was taken by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena in the recent fortnightly review meeting for prisons.
“During the meeting with the inmates, the L-G learned that the inmates whom are under trial prisoners also, do not get this basic facility of hot water even in this biting cold and that influential inmates manage to get hot water in the Jail at the rate of Rs 5000/- per bucket, Saxena issued instructions to DG (Prison) and the Pr. Secretary (Home), to immediately make hot water available to all inmates,” they said.
The sources said that similarly, upon learning that many an inmate, especially the older ones, complain of not having a mattress in this biting cold and that their orthopedic malices get aggravated, the LG instructed officials to ensure that mattresses are made available to the prisoners above 65 years of age.
“This humane decision, apart from boosting much-needed Jail reforms will also help eliminate corruption and patronizing on part of Jail officials, who often provide such services to inmates at a cost or if they are influential,” they stated.