Video conferencing facility would be installed at jails in Maharashtra to cut expenditure on moving undertrials to courts, Home Minister R R Patil said here today.
"The facility has already started in some jails and the Government would soon install it in remaining jails," Patil informed the Legislative Council.
The facility would also save the expenditure on security of undertrials while shifting them to courts, Patil said.
Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe raised the issue of attack on a jailor in Thane and asked if the Government has taken any measures like installing CCTV cameras inside jails to curb such incidents.
Patil said the proposal to install CCTV cameras in jails is already in the offing.
However, there are more prisoners and undertrials compared to the jail capacity, he said.
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"The state jails have total capacity of 23,000 to 24,000 prisoners and undertrials. But they are overcrowded," Patil said.
Mumbai jail has capacity of 804 but 2,091 prisoners are lodged there.
Similarly, in Thane jail, the capacity is 1,105 but houses 2,500 prisoners, he added.
Considering the overcrowded prisons, the Government is planning to increase the number of barracks for them, he said.
Three new prisons have been proposed by the Home department, he added.
Sena MLC Kiran Pawaskar said there was 30 per cent shortage in jail staff strength.
The Government is trying to fill up the vacant posts of guards and police, Patil said.