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Prison unrest continues, 16 hospitalised

PUDUCHERRY: As the standoff between the jail authorities and a section of prisoners entered the fourth day on Thursday, the number of fasting jail inmates admitted to the Government General Hospital here rose to 16.

According to prison sources, 27 of the 92 convict prisoners and 30 of the 175 undertrials had been on fast, opposing restrictions imposed on the quantity of essential items supplied by their relatives and denial of grant of parole to a convict prisoner.

Among others, Inspector General (Prisons) S.Vasudeva Rao and Superintendent of Government General Hospital Govindaraj visited the Central Prison on the Jawaharlal Nehru Street. Efforts to persuade the prisoners to give up the fast did not yield any positive result.

According to Chief Superintendent of Jails K. Durga Prasad, 13 prisoners, who had been observing the fast, were admitted to the GH on Wednesday and three more were sent there on Thursday. Their condition was said to be stable.

Relatives of the prisoners swarmed the separate ward where the prisoners were undergoing treatment. Following reports that some of the prisoners who undertook the protest fast had fainted, their relatives became tense.

The protests had reached a flash point following the recent resumption of duty by jail superintendent N. Jayagandan, who was placed under suspension following the probe by a commission of enquiry into the death of three prisoners in 2005.

Political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which supported the cause of the prisoners accused Mr. Jayagandan of taking “revenge” on the prisoners for giving evidence against him.

Denying the charges of torture and inhuman treatment meted out to the prisoners, the jail authorities said the departmental proceedings on the basis of the probe panel’s recommendations were on and five hearings were over.

According to Mr. Durga Prasad, after the recent recovery of some cell phones from the prison cells, restrictions were imposed on the quantity of eatable and other items being brought by visitors.

Indian Reserve Battalion personnel had been deployed in the prison complex to check the items brought by visitors, he said, adding that these steps were not found to the liking of some convict prisoners.

On the issue of granting parole to prisoners, he said, decision in this regard was taken by the jail authorities on merit and on the basis of their conduct.

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