New Bengal minister plans 57 Correctional Homes

Newly-appointed State Correctional Administration Minister Ujjal Biswas, in an exclusive interview to DNA talks about the plans for 57 Correctional Homes in West Bengal, which has about 23,000 inmates at any given time.

What are the immediate steps of reforms you are going to take as the jail minister?

In Bengal, I have seen inmates nurture various forms of art. I have now asked them to write – their autobiography, experiences and their take on life, inside and outside prison. You will be amazed at the writing skills of some of them. I will get in touch with some of the newspapers and request them to publish these works of the inmates so that they are enthused and their message is sent across society.

Besides we will take steps for the education of young inmates and will train those interested in more vocational courses.

A showroom for the products of inmates was planned outsided Alipore Women's jail but was scrapped at the last moment. Why?

The place is ready but we don't intend to start now. We need a steady supply of merchandise prepared by them so that at any point of time we dont run out of products. Besides, most of the products such as mustard oil and other edibles are mostly internally consumed.

There was also a coffee shop planned to be run by female inmates and a Metro Cash and Carry outlet at Alipore Women's jail and Presidency Correctional Home, respectively...

I have come in about 15 days ago. Give me some time to settle in. Everything will be done in timely manner. One of the points we have to be sure is that those inmates who run the coffee shop would not flee.

There were talks about giving conjugal rights to inmates like some jails in the country...

We have that facility in Behrampore Correctional Home and are exploring that opportunity with Alipore and Presidency Correctional Homes here in Kolkata. There are some issues which need to be looked into before it is rolled out.

Recently in the Nirbhaya incident, offenders were given capital punishment. Do you agree with it?

I am generally against capital punishment and think prisoners should be mentally rehabilitated, but there are some brutal minds which, like a faulty machine, have gone beyond repair and if let loose can be fatal for society. They need to be removed and thus what happened in the Nirbhaya incident is correct. It is a complicated process of evaluation of human mind.

It is an open secret that in jails of Bengal you can get anything from arms to mobile phones and narcotic substances if you have the right amount of money and contacts...

Smuggling in such substances is not possible without the involvement of an internal person. The present government is in no mood to tolerate such things. I have been asked by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take stringent steps against such officials if found guilty. I have sent the message across and things have been brought under control to a large extent.