High-Security Jail in Assam to be Completed within 2 Years

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: With the Deputy Commissioner of the Kamrup district handing over around 70 bighas of government land at Bagta in Hajo to the Inspector General of Prisons, all preparations are set for the construction of the first and only high-security jail in Assam. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the construction of the high-security jail on that plot of land has already been prepared, and the IG (Prisons) has asked the state PWD to issue the work order after the bidding process was completed.

Assam and five other states of the country will have high-security jails to keep any radicalisation efforts on the part of inmates at bay. The need for such a facility was also prompted by the fact that security agencies, including the NIA, apprehended several suspected jihadis earlier this year.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has already given its approval to the establishment of high-security jails in Assam, Delhi, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Karnataka. Each of these six states will get funds amounting to nearly Rs 100 crore for this purpose.

According to sources, the land was handed over to the IG (Prisons) after initiation of the process to seek necessary lands from the Kamrup district administration for the setting up of a high-security jail in the district, and the site at Hajo was selected.

High-security jails will entail the deployment of CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces), apart from the Assam Police and jail personnel. The government will use such a high-security jail to provide custody to elements that pose a threat to the integrity of the country.

According to sources, the decision for the high-security jail was taken as reformation of prisoners cannot be possible if all types of prisoners are lodged together. Different types of criminals require individual treatment. If a well-planned classification of inmates is not made and habitual and hardened criminals, who have adopted crime as a way of life, are separated from the rest, it would be difficult to save the first offenders from the crime infection, the sources said.

The scourge of jihadists in the state also prompted the decision, as radicalisation of other inmates is also possible if they are lodged with other criminal elements, the sources added.

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