District jail organizes ‘premier league’ for inmates

BAREILLY: Inmates of the district jail were in for a treat as for the first time, prison authorities organized a sports tournament — Jail Premier League — where they were given an opportunity to showcase skills in various sports like cricket, carom, volleyball, chess, shot put and tug-of-war
The four-day-long tournament started on February 14 and will go on till February 17.With cricket fever running high, the jailbirds are looking forward to the cricket match between circle 1 and circle 2 teams on Tuesday.
K K Dixit, deputy jailer, said, “This event is a part of our attempts to engage inmates in different activities on a regular basis. Organizing such tournaments not only helps us in developing our network among inmates but also develops interpersonal relationship with them, which helps jail authorities to identify and curb suicides cases inside jail premises.”
Dixit added that the cricket match was rescheduled as inmates were eager to watch the Indo-Pak match before indulging in the sport themselves.
Talking to TOI, Radha Krishan Mishra, district jail superintendent said, “Though the tournament was not planned, we decided to organize it after seeing overwhelming response on the part of the inmates. Soon after the decision we decided on the games to be included in tournament as per interest of inmates.”
Mishra added that such tournaments were organized at the central jail in Lucknow where prominent dignitaries including governor and chief minister used to inaugurate the tournament. “However, such tournaments have not been organized since 2001,” he said.