Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary (Home), said the idea was to further the diet of the prisoners. "We are trying to make their diet better. The said quantity is scientifically calculated for an average adult," he said.
Worried about the rapid weight gain of undertrial prisoners who "don't work and only eat", the Maharashtra government is hiring consultant dieticians at Taloja prisons on a trial basis, to ensure that the prisoners don't get more than 2,100 calories a day.
Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary (Home), said the idea was to further the diet of the prisoners. "We are trying to make their diet better. The said quantity is scientifically calculated for an average adult," he said.
The department is also planning to introduce gymnasiums in prisons on a trial basis to help inmates stay fit. Sources said the decision was taken after there were reports of prisoners gaining too much weight. No survey, however, was conducted to confirm the reports. As of now, a prisoner is provided with two full meals a day, besides two tea breaks.
As per law, an undertrial inmate is exempted from work in the prison until proven guilty. Convicts get employed in various departments, such as furniture making, bakery, stationery etc. "It is a human tendency to gain weight, especially if you eat and rest the whole day without burning the calories," said Singh, who has been inspecting various prisons in the state.
Meanwhile, sources said the department's earlier experiment of starting a gym in Nagpur failed miserably after inmates started using the gym weights to hit each other during scuffles. "This time, we will introduce some fixed machines with caution," Singh said.
As per a survey done by the Prison Statistics India in 2015, Maharashtra and Gujarat spent the least on their inmates. When only food, clothing and medicine expenditure were considered, the north-eastern states turned out to be the biggest spenders. Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh spend over Rs70,000 per inmate annually. Maharashtra spends close to Rs12,000 per inmate annually, while Gujarat spends a low amount of Rs13,000 annually.
Meanwhile, the government has set up a committee under an additional judge, comprising members of the Tata Foundation, Tata Institute of Social Science and the government, to improve the legal and medical aid facilities for the inmates. The three-year programme will be funded by the Tata Foundation. The home department and the foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with this regard last month.
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