Cells at Tihar jail to remain open for 12 hours daily

Tihar Prisons authorities have now decided to keep the cells unlocked for 12 hours in a day and carry out a monthly check of the special diet given to sick prisoners. They have also decided to return all the belongings and earnings of deceased prisoners to their kin after tracking them down.

"Now prison cells will not be locked between 12 noon to 3 pm as was done earlier," Sunil Gupta, spokesperson, Tihar Prisons said. So the cells will be unlocked for 12 hours instead of nine hours every day. As of now, inmates are allowed to come out at six in the morning and the cells remain unlocked till 12 noon and the same is followed between 3 pm to 6 pm.

However, the cells would now close only at 6 pm once they are opened at 6 am. Gupta said that cells were kept locked for longer hours as they did not have the requisite manpower to keep a vigil on the inmates. "However, with the staff now put on shift duty, it has become possible to unlock the cells for longer hours." Along with this, the medical diet for the sick prisoners will now be inspected every month instead of a quarterly check, Gupta said.

"Prisoners who died during their stay here at times have left behind their earnings and belongings with us. Many family members who were unaware of this never came back and claimed them. Now we have decided to track them down and return the belongings," he said.