All you need to know about Tihar Jail

Team Udayavani, Sep 19, 2019, 5:05 PM IST

Congress leader DK Sivakumar has been shifted from RML Hospital to Cell No. 7 in Tihar Jail on Thursday morning. Against this backdrop, here’s a little trivia of the largest jail in South Asia – Tihar jail

The inception of Tihar Jail?

The Tihar Central Jail was built in 1958 in a village called Tihar and was run by the State of Punjab. It was the only central prison for the entire country. The prison could only accommodate 1273 inmates then. In 1966, the custody of the prison was transferred to Delhi. The Tihar Jail was expanded and rebuilt built-in 1984 with additional facilities, making it the largest prison in India.

The Prison Factory was opened in 1961 at Tihar Central Prison No. 2. Here carpentry, weaving (Handloom & Powerloom), tailoring, chemical, handmade paper, commercial art and Bakery work are done by prisoners. The shoe manufacturing plant was launched in 2009. Currently, 700 inmates work at this shoe manufacturing plant and 25% of their earnings are deposited in the Victim Welfare Fund, which provides compensation to the victims and their families.

There are now more than ten thousand inmates in Tihar Jail. When Kiran Bedi was the Inspector General of Tihar Jail, several prisoners were changed. She also changed the name of Tihar Jail to Tihar Ashram. She also started a Vipassana meditation program for inmates and prison staff. Several inmates in the prison have graduated from these reform programs

Notable prisoners of  Tihar :
Indira Gandhi’s son Sanjay Gandhi, former CM of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav, renowned businessman Subrato Roy, underworld don Chhota Rajan, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, Indira Gandhi’s assassin Satwant Singh, international serial killer Charles Shobaraj, CWG scam Suresh Kalmadi, Former Socialist Party leader Amar Singh, Social activist Anna Hazare, P Chidambaram in the case of INX media, and the most recent DK Shivakumar for money laundering are the notable inmates to name a few.

Central Jail with Tight Security:
Built on some 400 acres, Asia’s largest Tihar prison has tight surveillance and security. Notorious criminals, like the underworld gangster Chhota Rajan, are placed with guards around the room. There is a television in every cell. Round-clock police guard around each cell. Prisoners only have the opportunity to meet their family members, lawyers and prison officials.

Facilities for Prisoners:
Prison inmates in Tihar Jail have access to clean drinking water, cable TV, indoor, outdoor games, canteen, high-end toilet, medical and legal aid, modern kitchen, meeting place with visitors with a telephone.