Home (Jails) to come up with a masterplan for central jail in Meghalaya

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 14, 2022

The Home (Jails) department will soon come up with a masterplan for setting up a Central jail in the state.

“We are setting up a Central jail in 25 acres of land allotted to us in the New Shillong Township. Shortly we will be coming out with a masterplan on this,” Inspector General of Prisons M Kharkrang told journalists on Friday.

Unlike other states, Meghalaya is yet to have its own central jail where only the convicts are kept.

Kharkrang also admitted that the whole idea of constructing a Central jail is to segregate the convicts from the under trial prisoners (UTPs).

It is also part of a long term measure to ease the overcrowding faced by different district jails across the state, he added.

When asked, the IG said construction will start only after the master plan is approved adding that building of that kind of infrastructure will take quite a long time.

“However, we hope that it will come up shortly. The government has given us 25 acres of land that itself indicates that it is very keen in setting up this central jail,” he stated.

Kharkrang further informed that the department had also visited good central jails outside along with the chief architect PWD.

“We are looking at the good practices and the good things that they have over there,” he said.