Prisons in Karnataka

Prisons in Karnataka

During the Non Regulation period (1837-1856) there were eight jails in the erstwhile Mysore State. Bangalore Central Jail was constructed in 1863. In 1923, there were one Central Jail, one district jail, and 78 lock-ups in the Mysore State. In Modern Karnataka Area, by 1905 there was a district jail at Bellary and 9 subsidary jails. By 1926, there were 6 sub-jails in Dakshlna Kannada District with one District Jail in Mangalore. In Bombay-Kamataka Area, by 1883 there were jails at each Mamlatdar’s office One District Jail was at Kaladgi (later shifted to Bijapur) and subordinate jail at Basavana Bagewadi. There were district jails at Karwar, Dharwad and Belgaum and a subordinate jail at Athani. There was a Borstal school at Dharwad (even now it is there) and a Central Jail at Hindalga near Belgaum. In Hyderabad Karnataka Area, there were jails at Gulbarga, Raichur and Bidar.

At the time of Unification there were six central jails, four District jails, two special jails and two Borstal Schools. Besides there were the agricultural-cumindustrial farms at Bijapur and Khanapur. As in 1992 the following were the Administration 241 prisons in the State. 1) Central Prisons(6) at Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Gulbarga, Mysore and Bijapur with total accomodation of 3,679 prisoners; 2) District Prisons (6) at Mangalore, Madikeri, Raichur, Bidar, Shimoga and Karwar (844 accomodation); 3) District central Sub-jails (7) at Mandya, Chitradurga, Kolar, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Tumkur and Dharwad; (558); 4) Special Sub- Jails at Davanagere and K.G.F.(113); 5) 26 taluk sub-jails under the direct control of Prisons Department and 44 Taluk Sub-Jails under Ex-Officio Superintenddent of Police Depts and Revenue Departments (1,669); 6) One Open Jail at Koramangala, Bangalore (80) and 7) One jail for youth prisoners (Taruna Bandi Khane) at Dharwad (133). Totally there were 96 jails, working strength 1318 and vacant posts were 474 are. As in 1999-2000 the sanctioned staff strength of the jails was 1,792. The average daily expense per prisoner in the State varied from Rs. 3.05 in 1982-83 to Rs. 10.10 in 1991-92. The daily everage expenditure of a prisoner is rupees 16.75 p. (December 1999)

rajeshkumar