Bedi unveils action plan for prison

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today came out with a seven-point action plan including training staff on best practises and providing education to the prisoners of Central Prison here in a view to make prisons a place for rehabilitation and reform for crime prevention.
Bedi, a former IPS officer who received accolades for bringing reforms at Tihar Jail in Delhi, made an 'unscheduled' visit to Central Prison at Kalapet here and evolved the action plan, a release said.
The visit aimed at "taking stock of the state of affairs of the prison" following which she evolved the action plan to make it a place for rehabilitation and reform for crime prevention, it said.

The Lt Governor said the prison staff should be subject to training on best practises followed by other model prisons in the country.
Prisoners should also be provided opportunities to get education during their incarceration and donation of used books can be sought as a first step from schools and publishers, she said.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could also be co-opted to teach and up-skill prisoners in different arenas such as agricultural and farming practises, weaving and making of handicrafts, the release said.
Other features of the action plan include promotion of yoga and sports among prisoners, regular 'shramdaan' by prisoners to keep the prison premises clean and linking of different departments of Pondicherry University to provide services including counselling and para-legal assistance.

Bedi said these steps would enable the Central prison to meet with existing policies of the Central government in prison management.