Maneesh was just another criminal when he was brought to the Haldwani jail sometime back. Whether he finds himself as a reformed person once he is released from the jail or not, but he turns out to be a reformer for many a jail inmates here in this jail, wearing hat of a teacher.
lodged in this British period jail in connection with a case for some time back, Maneesh had been assigned the task of educating fellow jail inmates basics of the computer course after the computer teacher hired by the jail administration had to quit. Interestingly, as per the jail manual now the Haldwani jail administration is also recommending a monthly stipend worth Rs 3,500 for Maneesh. “We have submitted a proposal to the State Government to approve a minimum Rs 3,500 for Maneesh in return for his work as a computer teacher for us,” said Manoj Arya, Superintendent of the Haldwani jail, while talking to The Pioneer in an exclusive interview. Maneesh has been teaching the computer education to the fellow jail inmates for some time now as the computer teacher we had hired earlier had to leave for some reasons, Arya further said.
Imparting the computer education is part of our reform programmes that we initiate time to time for jail inmates here, added the Superintendent of the Haldwani jail.We have been able to start computer education programmes for inmates with the help of a social organisation. Now many jail inmates have learnt the basics of this course. This is an attempt on our part to enable the inmates hone their professional skills so that once they are out they could live a better life, the Superintendent of the Haldwani jail further said.
But scarcity of space has come as a stumbling block in our way for expanding the reform programmes in this jail campus. The matter of concern is that on account of over occupancy coupled with poor infrastructure we have not been able to do much on reform front here, Arya further said. Over occupancy is the major problem that we have been facing here today. The fact is that against its existing capacity for housing only 250 inmates, there are over 850 jail inmates lodged in this jail presently.
And over 90 percent jail inmates are from neighbouring Udham Singh Nagar district in the Haldwani jail as there is no district jail in Udham Singh Nagar. And the Sitarganj Open jail is already crowded with inmates from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, he maintained. Therefore to lessen burden of the Haldwani jail, creation of necessary infrastructure is need of the hour. We have already taken up this matter with the higher authorities time and again. But there is no development on this front so far, the Superintendent of the Haldwani jail further said.
Had there been minimum required infrastructure, we could have initiated a lot of educational and vocational courses for the inmates here, added the Haldwnai jail officials.