Double the inmates in Tihar Jail than its capacity

NEW DELHI: The high-security Tihar jail houses more than double the number of inmates than its authorised capacity, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

As on June 30, the Tihar Jail had an authorised capacity of 6,250 (which included 5,850 males and 400 females) and an inmate population of 13,141 (which included 12,556 males and 585 females), Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a query.

Asked whether most of the jails house more than their prescribed capacity number, Singh said, "Yes, as per data compiled by National Crime Records Bureau at the end of 2011, the authorised capacity of the of 1,382 jails in the country was 3,32,782 while population of inmates was 3,72,926 with an occupancy rate of 112.1 per cent."

The undertrial prisoners and convicts are segregated and kept in separate barracks in jails and there is no proposal for keeping them in separate jails presently, the minister said.