In Tihar's open jail scheme, convicts can have day jobs

NEW DELHI: If all goes well, some of the convicts in Tihar Jail will be able to venture out in the morning, work during the day in corporate houses and public companies, and return to the prison in the evening.
In what could change the fate of many prisoners, Tihar administration has moved the government to sanction the open jail scheme, wherein some prisoners will be allowed to move out of the jail to work, Tihar DG Vimla Mehra announced after unfurling the flag on the Republic Day.
"The convicts who have spent two years in semi-open jails will be eligible for the open jail," said Tihar spokesperson Sunil Gupta.
Asked about the difference between the two, an officer said that in semi-open jails, the convicts remain within the jail premises but are released in the morning and can work during the day in an open environment. They work with the PWD, horticulture or in Tihar Haat, where jail products are sold.
On the Republic Day, 24 prisoners were freed and 1,000 others got remissions in their jail term, Gupta said. "Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung allowed remission in the jail term of 1,000 prisoners through an official letter on Saturday," he added.
The remission of sentences ranges from 15 days to two months and applies to those who are not convicts under charges of rape, smuggling and drugs offences, an officer said.
The remission facility is given every year under Section 432 of CrPC on the occasion of Republic Day to convicts who have maintained a good conduct in Tihar for a year.
"Prisoners sentenced to one year jail have been given 15 days' remission, while prisoners with sentences from one to five years will get one month's remission and those with five to 10 years will get remission of 45 days. Inmates sentenced to 10 years or more have been given remission of two months," Gupta said.
The Tihar Central Jail, housing over 12,000 inmates, is known as South Asia's largest prison spread in over 400 acres.