Telangana Prisons Dept wants dispute resolution at local level

The Telangana Prisons Department has started awareness programme involving citizens and released prisoners to resolve disputes at local level.
"We have started a mass awareness programme with the help of citizens and released prisoners which may go a long way in resolution of disputes in villages," Director General (Prisons and Correctional Services) V K Singh told reporters here today.
He said Prisons Department has constituted group of volunteers at district level, mandal level and village level to counsel and to resolve disputes amicably.
"We have also requested the Commissioners of Police to allow our counsellors to advise the parties in family disputes before they are sent to jails. Most of the family or marital disputes are because of difference of opinion and not due to physical assault," Singh said.

The jail department will now get professional team to counsel the litigating parties at police centres before they are sent to jail, he explained.
"Jail will act as centres of employment generation to reduce crime due to poverty," he said, adding, "We have identified almost places to start our petrol bunks and are hopeful that this year we will be able to start 100 such bunks."

"This way we will be giving employment to a minimum 2000 released prisoners and retired prison department employees," said the official. As of now six petrol bunks are being operated.
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He said, 79,409 prisoners were lodged in jails across

Telangana in 2015, while in the year 2016, 62,608 prisoners were lodged.
"The number of prisoners lodged in jails has gone down in Telangana and the credit goes partly to police and prisons department -- police for preventive action and prisons for reformative action," Singh said.
The number of deaths that occurred in prisons in 2016 was 24 against 56 in 2014, he said.
Vidyadaanam programme which was launched in July 2014 has proved to be the best in education policy of state and benefited 77,552 illiterate prisoners till date, he added.