BY GOD'S GRACE INMATES FIND WAY TO AIR GREVIANCES

Deprived of paper to pen their grievances at the overcrowded Shillong district jail in Meghalaya, northeast India, inmates are still dropping written complaints, albeit on Church brochures, distributed by clergymen as part of their counseling.

The matter came to light, after several of the complaints addressed directly to the higher jail authorities were found etched on religious brochures.

Sources said that the jail staffs have stopped handing out papers to the inmates probably fearing that they would start revealing the “inside stories” of the overcrowded jail.

However, the inmates, in the absence of  paper found the ingenious way and started to write down their grievances on church pamphlets and brochures, which are handed to them occasionally by the preachers who visit them.

“It is true complaints were written on the church brochures and pamphlets and the same were found in the two complaint boxes. This, was done, probably, as the inmates were not provided paper by the jail staffs,” a police official said on condition of anonymity.

The controversy-ridden Shillong jail, infamous for several jail breaks, some in collusion with jail authorities, set up two complaint boxes as per the direction of the National Human Rights Commission from August this year.

The British-era jail was established in 1895 and the capacity to house 150 inmates, however, there are over 300 inmates cramped in the jail. On the other hand, there were 30 Jail breaks between 1990 and 2009, averaging one jail break every nine month.

In the initial few days, the official said, inmates were given paper and the complaint on the general condition of the jail came thick and fast. “This led to the jail officials not distributing the papers,” the police official said.

Meanwhile, there is demand by the jail staffs to remove the Director General of Prisons, Kulbir Krishan alleging highhandedness. Krishan countered the allegation and said that some of the jail staffs are providing undue favours to some of the prisoners.

Incidentally, the matter of alleged collusion of some jail staffs and UTPs came to light in August this year. An internal inquiry to probe into the allegations is on.