New Delhi: Work on the construction of a high-security prison in Narela, whose design is inspired by the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is expected to start soon. An expenditure finance committee meeting has revised the project estimate to Rs 148.6 crore. Officials said that the first tender did not receive any contractors, following which the terms were revised and the financial feasibility was worked out, before the revised proposal was sent to the DG (prisons).Officials stated PWD would begin the first phase of the prison construction soon on the 11-acre plot. In the second phase, the staff residence and a training centre are planned.The new prison will have 250 cells,, with its wings radiating from a central watchtower, making the entire complex look like the spokes of a wheel. The jail will have state-of-the-art high-security features, such as automated locking, X-ray baggage scanners, full-body human scanners, and body-worn cameras. These will help the authorities control the gang activities and check violence inside the jail, according to an officer.The design of the Cellular Jail was influenced by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s idea of the panopticon, a building designed in such a way as to enable a single guard at a vantage central point to keep an eye on inmates. The inmates, who would not be able to see the guard, would assume they were always under observation. The Cellular Jail building has seven wings, at the centre of which stands a tower from where guards would keep the inmates under scrutiny.“The jail at Narela will have a locking system that will be automatically triggered in cases of riots or clashes inside the complex,” disclosed a Delhi govt official. “The guards will also be equipped with body cameras. The cells will be built in such a way that there will be no chance of high-risk inmates seeing or talking with each other, affecting their ability to form gangs in the prison.”In-built jammers will impair the use of mobile phones in the jail. While security will be heightened for prison staff and families of inmates, the complex will have very high walls to prevent the throwing in of objects like phones, drugs and other prohibited items. It is likely that inmates will be allowed to engage in productive activities like making furniture and food items, for which they can earn money. “The idea is to reform and not just punish,” the official said.The new prison, with its capacity of 256, is expected to take some load off Delhi’s other three penitentiaries at Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini, most of which are overcrowded. The total capacity of these is 10,000, but the number of convicted and undertrial prisoners housed in the three complexes is almost double the capacity.
