MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA, September 24, 2006: Jail Minister Dhal Singh Bisen wants to try a different approach to bring down the crime rate in Madhya Pradesh’s overcrowded prisons. Firstly, Bisen wants the inmates to participate in rajpurohit training which is a training course for priests. Secondly, Bisen has proposed that the jails themselves be restructured to reflect the principles of Vaastu, the ancient science of architecture. Thirdly, the jail department wants to build family jails to house well-behaved prisoners. Bisen believes that these positive changes will “bring out the goodness in prisoners”. An unnamed senior police official says, “It is difficult to tackle hardcore criminals. There is a shortage of staff and we have to work under tremendous pressure. This has led to many jailbreaks in the past two years.” The news release adds, “Most jails are packed five times their capacity. Of the 30,000 prisoners lodged in the 128 jails of the state, 10,000 are serving long terms. So, maybe Bisen’s reform plans could actually make a difference to the lives of these prisoners and help them turn a new leaf.”
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