The Punjab prisons department — in a first of its kind initiative — on Tuesday allowed prisoners with good conduct to spend time with their spouses in a secure room for up to two hours. The initiative was launched in three Punjab jails – Goindwal Sahib Central Jail in Tarn Taran, the New District Jail at Nabha and Women’s Jail in Bathinda on Tuesday.
Punjab Jails Minister, Harjot Singh Bains, had on September 15 this year inaugurated the ‘Parivar Mulakat’ (family visit) scheme from Ludhiana central jail, an initiative under which inmates can meet their loved ones in person for an hour at a specially designated rooms inside the prison.
On Tuesday, there were 21 conjugal visits by spouses of the inmates – four in women jail Bathinda, five in Nabha and 12 in Goindwal Sahib jail. Punjab Special Director General of Police (Prisons) Harpreet Singh Sidhu said the feedback from the inmates was very encouraging and such visits would be expanded to other jails in the state.
Sidhu said the arrangement for visits for the prisoners would be in place in six other jails by September end.
Punjab has 26 jails. Ten of these are Central jails, six district jails, five sub jails, two women jails, and one Borstal, Open and Maximum Security jail.
Sidhu was all praise for prisons department officials for working hard to introduce the novel system which he said would usher in improvements in overall eco-system of the jails, leading to better behavior by inmates and strengthen family bonds. Sidhu said the initiative was likely to be scaled up by constructing more infrastructure and rooms in jails for such visits. The conjugal visits on Tuesday were arranged in a dedicated room, away from area which houses inmates, but within the jail premises, with an attached bathroom.
“By introducing this novel initiative of conjugal visits, we have tried to break the taboo,” said Sidhu, who also pointed out that to channelize the energies of inmates and to check any negativity, the prisons department had also started a physical training, parade, sports and yoga program for inmates in jails across the state, where more than 70 percent of the inmates are already participating after its launch around a fortnight ago.
Hardcore criminals, gangsters, terrorists and those suffering from serious infectious diseases like HIV have been kept out of the purview of the initiative as of now.
To avail a meeting, an inmate, either a convict or under-trial with good conduct, needs to submit a request to the concerned jail superintendent and following a laid down procedure and subject to meeting the criteria, the visit is allowed.
