New jails to come up soon

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Prisons Department is soon going to have its own Borstal school, women’s prison, a new central prison and an administrative office in the state.Post bifurcation, the state prisons department is functioning from Hyderabad and is yet to shift to the capital region as insisted by the chief minister.

The department has sought land in the capital region for establishing a central prison to accommodate around 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners.Sub-jail superintendent Ch. Nityanandam said that the Capital Region Development Authority has promised 150 acres of land and the matter would be settled soon to set up central jail. The prison is likely to come up near Gannavaram.

After the establishment of central jail, the sub-jail in the heart of the city would be shifted to the central jail premises and replaced with women’s prison. The sub-jail would be given a face-lift with over '2 crore and an administrative block would be built.

At present there is only one women’s prison for the entire state, which is functioning at Rajhmundry Central Jail. The department is also setting up a Borstal School with a budget of '25 crore at Kondavelagad village of Nellimarla Mandal in Vizianagaram district.The prisoners aged between 18-21 years are confined in Borstal School as per rules.