Vigilance cell in MP jails

Bhopal, May 22 (UNI) Vigilance cell will be set up in Madhya Pradesh's jail department this year to strengthen the security arrangements in jails across the state.

A decision in this regard was taken at the department's consultative committee meeting presided over by Jail Minister Antar Singh Arya here yesterday.

The Finance department has also given its approval in principle for setting up the cell, Mr Arya said.

Several programmes for the rehabilitation and welfare of prisoners had been given a momentum and better results were seen in attempts made to improve the mentality and line of thinking of the jail inmates, he said.

Mr Arya suggested to improve arrangements for drinking water and toilets for the prisoners and to construct sheds for the visitors in all jails.

Jail Principal Secretary M K Rai claimed death rate of jail inmates in the state had come down drastically by giving more attention to their health problems. The death rate in jails, which remained at 3.28 per one thousand in 2005-06, has down to 2.28 per one thousand during 2006-07, he said.

Besides drinking water, other issues discussed by the committee include appointment of non-official visitors, management of goshalas, vocational training to prisoners and construction of new jails.

UNI