Tihar exceeds its sanctioned capacity for inmates

The high security Tihar Jail houses more than double the number of inmates than its sanctioned capacity.
Tihar, which has several high-profile inmates lodged in it, has a sanctioned capacity of 6,250 but as on December 31 last year, as many as 13,552 prisoners were lodged in it.
"Out of this, a total of 10,154 prisoners were undertrials while only 3,388 were convicted prisoners. The number of male prisoners was 12,937 while that of female prisoners were only 615," Director General (Prisons) Vimlaa Mehra told reporters here at the annual press conference.
A total of 366 prisoners were foreigners. There are around 1332 life convicts while 30 are death sentence prisoners.

A total of 53, 471 prisoners were released from the jail premises in the last one year while 54,910 were admitted in Tihar in the same period.
Mehra said that there have been no escape, no riots and no major violation by inmates in the last one year.
She however, agreed that they are short of people by at least 30 per cent and the issue has already been taken up with the Delhi government.