IMPHAL, July 17: The state government has initiated measures to shift the Imphal Central Jail and amalgamate the prison to Shajiwa Central Jail located at Khabeisoi. The site of the historical Central Jail which was built in 1890 during the monarchial era will be newly developed to accommodate the Police Headquarters (PHQ).
IFP learnt from reliable a reliable source that the decision to shift the police headquarters to the Central Jail came after the IGP (Prisons), PM Goud, IPS officer wrote an official proposal to the Home Department.
However, the Central Jail will not be relocated till the ongoing work of building the “High Security Prison” at Sajiwa Jail is completed. At present, the Central Jail houses 40 female inmates, among them, one is convicted and the remaining 39 are detained under the National Security Act. The inmate capacity of Central Jail is stated to be at 277.
The source further mentioned that there are jails at Chandel, Jiribam and Churachandpur districts but are not functioning. The only functional prisons are the Imphal Central Jail and Sajiwa Central Jail.
It may be mentioned that other states have only female prisoners and Central Jail houses only female prisoners.However, the stance to contain the female prisoners at Sajiwa Central jail is a controversial one as according to the ‘Assam Jail Manual,1891’, even the voices of male prisoners should not be audible to the female prisoners.