Three inmates threaten suicide in Salem central prison

Salem: In a dramatic development that took the jail administrators by storm, three inmates of the Salem central prison, stripped themselves to the bare minimum, climbed atop a tree inside the complex and threatened to commit suicide to protest against the continuous checking of their cells by police personnel. 

According to police sources, about 800 persons, arrested for various cases have been lodged in Salem central prison. Recently, prison officials intensified checking of prisoners when they returned to their respective cells after court appearances, in the wake of some incidents of the inmates allegedly bringing in ‘ganja’. Officials also seized mobile phones and SIM cards during recent checks. However, severity in checking had irked prisoners and they opposed it.

It was in this backdrop that on Saturday, three prisoners Senthil, Nagaraj and Stephen Raj, arrested in a bike theft case, were sent to the dining hall for having lunch. Suddenly, they flung off their clothes and climbed atop a nearby tree in the premises. They engaged in a ruckus and shouted slogans that police should not check them on return from courts.

The inmates also demanded to allocate the same room for the trio and demanded that they should not be told to change rooms frequently. Officials then held talks with them and following an assurance on their demands, the three agitated inmates came down after more than an hour, which caused tense moments inside the prison complex.

The Salem jail superintendent Ms. Andal reportedly told the inmates that searches would not be conducted in their individual cells in future. All the three prisoners were later lodged in the high security cell, police added.