Finally, Jharkhand’s first ‘open jail’, waiting since the past two years after its construction, is to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday.
The ‘open jail’, constructed inside the premises lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail in Hazaribagh, is to accommodate some 25 inmates primarily, with good track records, selected as per the jail manual.
The jail officials have been working hard for the final round of preparations for the inaugural ceremony. “We are doing our best for the preparations of the inaugural session of the open jail and final rounds of preparations like painting and furnishing are being done,” said Jailer of the Hazaribagh jail CP Suman. According to Sunam, the number of inmates will be increased later who will also be allowed to live their family members in the independent cells they are being given.
The ‘open jail’ has the unique feature of independent cells having a room, a verandah and in independent kitchen where they can prepare food of their own. It is an initiative by the Government so that the jail inmates feel themselves neglected from the society and give them a chance to identify themselves with the mainstream.
“The jail premises have been divided into clusters and with eight cottages in each of them. An inmate can stay there with his wife and minor
children in the cottage which also houses a bedroom with balcony, kitchen, bathroom and a small courtyard,” said the jailer. The rehabilitation center has better infrastructural facilities unlike other regular jails, he added.
As many as 13 tube wells have been sunk inside the open jail along with six deep boring, to be used by the inmates.To meet its power requirement, a 200 KVA transformer has also been installed inside the centre.
"This is an initiative to add the jail inmates with the mainstream and hence an arrangement has also been made in the jail premises to accommodate the family along with their minor children," said the jailer.
To give it a human touch, it has also been renamed as Open jail-cum-Rehabilitation Centre. Some 100 jail inmates with good track records while serving their sentences in jail from across the state have been selected as per the provisions in the jail manual.
According to the guidelines of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), it is mandatory for every state to establish an open jail. This will be the first ever jail of its kind for both the states of Jharkhand and Bihar.
Though construction work was completed some two years back, the jail was awaiting its opening as the jail manual for open jail was not being framed. "Since there were no separate jail manual for the open jail in the State, it was not being opened for the last two years even after the completion of the construction work," added the jailer.