NEW DELHI (NNN-KUNA) -- Indian Capital New Delhi houses the biggest prison in South Asia - "Tihar Prison", which has a total sanctioned capacity of 6500 inmates, though it is actually occupied by more than 12,500 inmates.
Spread in an area of around 400 hectares, the Jail compound is divided into ten jails, including one exclusively for the women to accommodate around 550 female inmates.
A separate space is kept for offenders in the age-group of 18-21, which can accommodate around 750 inmates, but is actually overcrowded with more than 1100 children.
There are nearly 100 "cell accommodations" exclusively meant for terrorists and other hardened criminals, while other inmates are housed in groups in "barrack accommodations".
Only the latter category of the inmates is provided with TV sets for their recreation and entertainment.
Nearly 75 percent of the total jail inmates are under-trials, and the rest convicts. Set up in 1958, the prison is situated in the western part of New Delhi
The uniqueness of this Jail lies in the fact that here a special care is taken to reform the inmates to enable them rejoin the mainstream society once they are released after completing their sentences.
The inmates are made to work in different factories where they produce eatables like cookies, breads, biscuits, snacks, and durables like furniture and fixtures.
Their products are sold at a special shop, namely 'Tihar Haat', set-up just outside the precinct of Jail. In return of their hard work, the inmates are paid daily wages of nearly two USD.
"The eatables produced by Tihar Jail inmates are sold under the brand name - TJ'S (meaning Tihar Jail's), and are quite famous in Delhi and surrounding areas," claims Sunil Gupta, the Jail's Public Information Officer (PRO).
The concept behind setting up factories is to make the inmates busy in some work or the other, which, in turn, reduces their stress and frustration levels.
The programs of reformation and rehabilitation of the inmates undertaken at the Jail has caught the attention of world organisations, even as it is often visited by international delegations, including from the United Nations, to learn the processes undertaken to turn the inmates into well-behaved human beings.
A special care is taken to calm down the behavior of the inmates by engaging them in activities like sports, Yoga, and meditation which give them mental-peace, says Gupta while speaking to KUNA.
He adds "We organize regular sports tournaments within the prison compound to inculcate the habit of 'healthy competition' among the prisoners. The second objective is to keep them fit and healthy." The biggest challenge before the Tihar Prison authorities is how to handle the problem of overcrowding in the jail, even as the rate of crime is increasing by the day.
"Either we will have to increase the capacity, or undertake extra-judicial efforts in order to free maximum number of inmates after giving them a fair trial.
We have increased the capacity by 3600, and also set up special monthly courts within the prison complex to try minor offenders. We have so far successfully tried and disposed-off 5100 cases, which is a record in itself worldwide," informs the Prison PRO.
The European concept of "Plea Bargaining Courts" has also been adopted by the Jail. According to it, if a convict confesses to his/her crime, and the victim is also ready to pardon him/ her, and the prosecution is also ready to give one last hearing, the convict is released.
Introduced last year, the "Plea Bargaining Courts" have so far disposed-off as many as 666 cases in just two sittings, informs Gupta.
For those who can't afford to hire advocates to defend themselves are provided free legal-aid. As many as 29 lawyers have been hired by the Jail authorities to defend such under-trials at trial-court stage, and another panel of 22 advocates extends legal aid to the poor inmates at High Court-level.
The Prison is secured by a 3-tier security. Quite interestingly, the inner most security ring is handled by non-Hindi speaking security-force, particularly hired from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
"These security-personnel can't speak or understand Hindi language, which is used only in the northern parts of India
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