24 of 33 jails in Chhattisgarh overcrowded, reveal govt figures

Raipur: Jails in Chhattisgarh are overcrowded as more than 18,000 inmates are lodged there against the existing capacity of 14,383, as per the figures shared by the state government.

The state has five central, 20 districts and eight sub-jails, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, who also holds the home portfolio, stated in a written reply in the assembly on Thursday to a query from BJP MLA Sampat Agrawal.

Twenty-four of these jails, including all five central, 14 district and five sub jails, are overcrowded. In the remaining nine jails, inmates are less than their capacities, according to the figures.

"As against the capacity of 14,383, there are 18,442 inmates lodged in the central, district and sub jails as of January 31 this year," the deputy CM said.

The central jail in Raipur has 3,076 prisoners as against the capacity of 1,586, while the central jail in Durg has 2,031 inmates compared to the capacity of 2,006.

Similarly, the central jail in Bilaspur has 2,870 prisoners though it has the capacity to keep only 2,290. The central jail in Jagdalpur (Bastar) has 1,462 inmates and the one in Ambikapur (Surguja) has 2,013 as against their capacities of 1,451 and 1,320, respectively, Sharma said.

The home minister also said that Rs 1,195 lakh was sanctioned for the construction of barracks in nine jails - including central jails in Ambikapur and Jagdalpur, district jails in Rajnandgaon, Kabirdham, Surajpur, Jashpur, Gariaband and sub-jails in Manendragarh and Narayanpur.