On a day when officials carried out inspections in many prisons in the State, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam sought to play down certain leaked photographs that showed the inmates of the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai in civil clothes and enjoying facilities such as home-cooked food and TV.
Talking to journalists on Sunday, Mr. Shanmugam said it was not true that the prisoners were leading a lavish life.
Whatever facilities they enjoyed were granted to them in line with the orders of the courts and the prison manual, he added. The prisoners whose photographs were circulated in social media were convicted under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
“They have already served five years,” he said.
A-class entitlement
‘A-class’ prisoners were entitled to wear their personal clothes during certain time of the day and they were also being trained in fine arts, he said, while explaining why they were not in prison uniform and why their cells were painted in colours of their choice. “In fact, the Puzhal police station was painted by the prisoners,” he said. However, he acknowledged that usage of cell phones inside the prison campus was against the rules. Steps were being taken to check the practice, he added.
“Prisoners are entitled to TV, but now we will place the sets outside the cells so that they are not used for charging cell phones,” Mr. Shanmugam said.
