Members of civil society staged a demonstration in front of the Visakhapatnam Central Jail in Adavivaram on Thursday to mark the martyrdom of freedom fighter Jatin Das and to express solidarity with ordinary and political prisoners in the jail who were on a fast.
The delegation under the banner of the Solidarity Committee for Struggle for Prisoner Rights (Khaidi Hakkula Porata Sanghibhava Committee) met DIG Prisons A. Narasimha, who was on a visit to the jail, and Jail Superintendent C. Easwaraiah, and submitted a memorandum.
They demanded that the prisoners not be deprived of access to basic rights like good water and living space. They also demanded that the jail manual, drawn up in 1894, be updated and revised and that political prisoners be given access to television with a facility to view private channels, among others.
The delegation requested Mr. Narasimha to treat with consideration some of the inmates who required constant medical attention.
The jail official assured them that they were doing their utmost to ensure constant medical attention to all the inmates.
The prison was a place for reform and the prisoners were not denied access to basic rights, the DIG said.
He said that he would look into the issues raised by the delegation and forward them to the Government for action.
District president of the AP Civil Liberties Committee T. Sreerama Murthy, G. Raghuram and A. Annapoorna of the APCLC, D. Lalitha, K. Padma, Chalasani Prasad, P. Viramani of Struggle Committee Against Privatisation, State vice-president of Progressive Organisation of Women M. Lakshmi, and K. Ravi also participated in the demonstration.
