Central Jail houses 44% more inmates than actual capacity: Panel

BENGALURU: The special panel set up to probe preferential treatment given to AIADMK leader Sasikala in Central Jail, Bengaluru, has highlighted another cause of concern — crumbling prison infrastructure. While the number of prisoners exceeds the capacity by 44 per cent, the

staff deficit

stands at 54 per cent. Also, the prison hospital has 45 per cent vacancies, the committee report has found.


According to the panel headed by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar, there were 4,367 inmates at

Central Prison

(Parappana Agrahara) as against the authorized capacity of 3,016. The committee was formed by the state government following a report submitted by IPS officer D Roopa on VIP treatment inside the jail.



A check by TOI on Tuesday revealed the prisoner strength is 4,877 apart from 6 children of inmates. While 240 staffers were deputed at the prison, the number of sanctioned posts is around 550. A senior police officer said according to the prisons manual, the official and inmate ratio should be 1:6 but it’s around 1:20.

The officer said the shortage affects routine work and prison management. “Just like other places, collecting information through intelligence is very important in prisons as well. But with inadequate staff, one can imagine the situation,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The panel led by Vinay Kumar said nearly 61 per cent vacancies at the warder-level, the prison management has resorted to using the services of convicts themselves. It found that prisoners raised the issue of security compromise due to shortage of warders in the backdrop of incidents like the attack on the chief medical officer and misbehaviour with a female nurse. Even the prison hospital is working at almost half the sanctioned strength, the panel observed.

In March 2017, the home department issued an order sanctioning 1,811 new posts to the prison department, including 1,434 of warders and 213 of head warders. Recruitments will be done over five years.

Pointing to another area of concern, the committee said it found that 19 mobile jammers had not been functioning for the past one year. When the committee members held a video conference with 20 prisoners who were shifted to different jails after Roopa filed the report in 2017, the inmates raised issues like abusive behaviour of senior officers, bad food quality and not getting early release on the basis of good behaviour.