Minister for Law, Courts, Prisons and Prevention of Corruption S. Regupathy said here on Monday that his Department was considering pleas from prisoners and others for the release of life term convicts who have spent 10 years in prisons.
Mr. Regupathy said that the Department was in the efforts of modernising prisons and establishment of more open prions in the State.
Modernisation of prisons will include efforts to improve the rehabilitation of prisoners. The government will make policy decisions for such improvements, said Mr. Regupathy after visiting Coimbatore Central Prison.
He paid respects to the portrait and the oil press which V.O. Chidambaram Pillai was forced to pull while lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison during the freedom struggle.
Mr. Regupathy said that various measures are being taken for the rehabilitation of prisoners.
According to him, the Prisons Department was giving skills training to prisoners including weaving and handloom. The prisoners are making the cloth for the uniforms of the police force and prisons department in Tamil Nadu. The Department was providing opportunities for prisoners to learn new skills, spend their time in the cells productively and to become self-reliant after being released from prison, he said.
District Collector G.S. Sameeran; Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara; G. Shanmuga Sundaram, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Prisons, (Coimbatore range); G.B. Senthamaraikannan, Superintendent of Coimbatore Central Prison; former MLA N. Karthik were present.