By Express News Service
KASARAGOD: Cheemeni Open Jail sitting on a 308-acre plot wears a vacant look. Nearly 85% of its prisoners — in for heinous crimes akin to murders, political killings and intercourse crimes — are out on parole for the previous two years. “They went home in March 2020 because of Covid. But even in February this year, the Supreme Court asked the government of Kerala not to insist on their surrender considering the pandemic had not abated,” stated an officer.
Unlike in Thrissur, the prisoners of Cheemeni Open Jail had not created any bother throughout this era, he stated. “But they cannot be out of prison for long. They should return to prison and complete their sentences,” he stated.
Of the 176 inmates, 151 prisoners are on parole now. The absence of the prisoners has hit the functioning of the open jail, which over time began 16 enterprise ventures to maintain the inmates engaged and employed. “We had to shut most of the units because they are not coming back,” the official stated.
The open jail closed its Freedom Food Factory, which made chapatis and biryani, cafeteria, laterite stone reducing unit, vegetable farm, males’s salon, poultry farm, and pig and rabbit farms.
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Now, the jail is operating solely its gas station and cow farm. “We had to bring in 20 prisoners from Kannur jail to keep these units running,” stated the official.
With the prisoners from Kannur jail, the open jail now has 45 inmates. In distinction, the jail has 55 workers.
Before Covid, the jail had offered greens value Rs 20 lakh in a yr. Recently, it earned Rs 70,000 from hen in 35 days. “Since there was no one to take care of the pig farm, we auctioned the pigs and got Rs 11 lakh,” stated an official. The public cafeteria was producing a revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh each month however needed to be shut down.
Now, the jail has 70 cows and 100 goats. The gas station is doing enterprise value round Rs 9 lakh every single day. “People come from as far as Nileshwar to fill their tanks,” stated the official quoted above.
Open prisons are run on belief with minimal supervision and safety, he stated. “Inmates are encouraged to take up jobs. But they are expected to complete their sentences. In normal circumstances, parole is only for two weeks,” he stated.