Meghalaya : Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said, during the inauguration of the Ri-Bhoi District Jail at Mawsyntia village, that his government will make efforts to strengthen vocational and skill training to the jail inmates to become sustainable and productive after release and assimilate themselves in the society as responsible and productive citizens.
He said that the opening of a new jail in Ri-Bhoi for the jail inmates belonging to the district after separation of the judiciary from the executive, was long overdue.
Expressing his happiness at the inauguration of the jail which would be an effective instrument for reformation and rehabilitation of offenders, Dr Sangma said prisons are very crucial in the overall administration of justice and thus overcrowding of inmates in the existing prisons is a matter of concern. “Reformation and rehabilitation of jail inmates is vital to human liberty and dignity and inmates must be provided with conducive environment for reformation and correction,” he said. He also stated that the villages around the jail must be a model and a source of motivation for the inmates.
He added that jails should be capable of generating hope among the inmates and hoped that the Ri-Bhoi district jail will provide all requisite support and assistance to the jail inmates to facilitate the task of correction, rehabilitation and reformation.
Home (Jail) minister Roshan Warjri informed that the jail campus had been acquired since September 10, 1999 with a total area of approximately 16.33 acres for compensation amount of Rs 61.16 lakhs. She added that an administrative approval and sanction of Rs 6.28 crores was given in March 2004 and a revised estimate of Rs 7.67 crores was again sanctioned in March 2014 which finally completed the jail infrastructures.
The Ri-Bhoi district jail will house 100 inmates. The inmates of Ri-Bhoi district will be shifted soon from the existing Shillong district jail. A full length of officers and staff of this jail has been put in place for administration of jail management in accordance with the jail manual that has been adopted in the state. Trail of cases through video conferencing will also be installed and completed in the Ri-Bhoi district jail.
The Jail has separate wards for male and female inmates, kitchen, dining room, treatment and medical centre, sports hall, training centre with facilities for skill development, vocational training and occupational therapy, solitary hall for prayer and meditation and staff quarters.
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