Chief minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Lajpore Central Prison in outskirts of Surat on Sunday. This jail is slated to be Gujarat’s largest prison.
State prison minister Dileep Sanghani told reporters that Lajpore Central Prison is the biggest central prison in the state in terms of area, built-up area and prisoner capacity. The prison has been built at a cost of Rs56 crore.
According to officials, total capacity of Lajpore prison is 2,757 for male prisoners and 210 for female prisoners.
Before being upgraded to Central Prison status, Surat district prison’s capacity was 335 for male prisoners and 15 for female prisoners. However, a total of 1,123 prisoners were lodged in the jail as of February 1, leading to massive overcrowding.
A total of 742 cameras have been installed in the prison, covering all barracks and the external area. All indoor cameras are infra-red, which enable monitoring even in the dark. Video surveillance at Lajpore is first of its kind in jails in the country, said officials.
Sanghani said that there were plans to spread the system to other jails in the state. A detailed proposal has been submitted and is currently under consideration of state government.
The Lajpore prison has facilities for rainwater harvesting, RO system, hospitals, playground, indoor game facility, yoga, meditation centre, open auditorium, library, study centres and skill-development centres among others.
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