Unrest at Rajahmundry Central Jail over amenities

• Agreed to call off stir following intervention of District Collector
• Disputes continue to flare up between authorities and convicts
• Prison superintendent is allegedly harassing inmates
• Detainees are allegedly denied ration, healthcare

Rajahmundry: Rajahmundry: Prisoners in the Rajahmundry Central Jail called off their indefinite fast following the intervention of the East Godavari district Collector Neetu Prasad. The Collector deputed Rajahmundry Revenue Divisional Officer Radhakirshna Murthy to hold talks with the agitating prisoners. Talk bore fruit and the prisoners agreed to end the indefinite fast.

Earlier, tension gripped the Rajahmundry Central Jail as the prisoners resorted to indefinite fast from Saturday night. Half of nearly 1,200 prisoners in the jail refused food for last two days. Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Coastal region, A Narsimha held talks with the prisoners but his efforts to end the agitation proved futile. The prisoners demanded intervention of the district Collector. It led to the Collector deputing the Rajahmundry RDO to hold talks with the agitators.

The prisoners are on the warpath against Jail Superintendent K Newton and Deputy Superintendent Raghu for allegedly harassing them and granting parole for rich prisoners only. The agitators put forward 20 demands to call off stir. The demands included quality ration and providing fair treatment to relatives of the prisoners, during their visit to the jail.

The Central Jail at Rajahmundry, one of the landmarks in the State since the British colonial days, was famed for reforming hardcore criminals, is now in the news for all wrong reasons. Dispute between the Jail superintendent Newton and prisoners had been brewing for sometime. It had now stirred up strife in the jail.

Disputes are said to be flaring up between the staff and prisoners since Newton took over as jail superintendent. Allegations have it that some prisoners, arrested on the charge of red sanders smuggling, are treated like royalty. There were reports also that the jail staff had seized mobile phones from some of the alleged red sander smugglers lodged in the jail. Most of these remand prisoners hail from Chittoor district. How the remand prisoners were able to secure mobile phones inside the prison is still clocked in a shroud of mystery.

The prisoners, who were on indefinite fast, alleged that they were denied basic amenities, like ration and healthcare. The jail superintendent is accused of not including potato in the menu once in a week. Instead, the jail authorities are including in the menu only the vegetables the prisoners are raising in the open prison area. Those supporting Jail Superintendent, however, suspect that some outside forces have instigated strife in the jail.