Inmates wanted: Telangana offers its jails on rent

HYDERABAD: To let, jails in Telangana.

States with overcrowded prisons may contact the state, which plans to rent out next year its jail cells at ~10,000 a month for each prisoner.

The offer is not for everyone. The jail-share scheme is restricted to convicts of “non- grievous and non-serious” offences. Tenants cannot be undertrials or hardcore criminals.

“Norway, where the crime rate has gone down considerably, started this practice of letting its prisons to neighbouring countries facing space shortage for prisoners. We want to adopt this,” director general of prisons VK Singh said on Thursday.

Telangana’s 50 jails can accommodate 6,848 prisoners. At present, there are 6,063 on the prison rolls. So, there’s lodging space for 800 more.

Singh said the scheme could begin next year after making space for at least 2,000 renter-prisoners.

“We aren’t in a hurry. We want to stabilise our prisoner strength.”

Jail sin bigger states are struggling with overcrowding—the result of a slow-moving justice system and years of failure to build new prisons by governments trying to re in in expenses.

States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh could be potential clients for Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.“We plan to charge ~10,000 a prison era month for their boarding and lodging, security, mulakat (meeting visitors) and training in various job skills,” Singh said.

The prisons department estimates earnings of roughly ~25 cr ore a year from the rental if the government clears the plan.

“The money would contribute to making our jails self-reliant,” the prisons chief said.

In Te lang ana and And hr a Pradesh jails, the average daily expenditure on a prisoner is ~120, which comes to ~43,800 a year. On food alone, the states spend ~80 a day on each prisoner every weekday and ~100 on Sunday sand holidays, when anon-vegetarian fare is served.