The home department is planning to introduce gymnasium in jails to ensure better health habits among undertrials. The decision has come after it was found that undertrials were facing health-related issues, especially weight gain.
The facility would be started in two-three jails as a pilot project. Also, bio-metric system will be installed to record information of the undertrials and prisoners. The information can be monitored or produced when needed.
“The undertrials are not given any physical work in the jails. It has observed that they face health-related issues like weight gain. Therefore we have decided to start gyms for undertrials in a few jails,” principal secretary of home department, Dr Vijay Satbir Singh, said. At present, the undertrials and prisoners learn Yoga in the jails.
As per the norms, the prisoners and undertrials should get 2,100 calories per day. However, there is no system or a dietician to check the calorie intake of the prisoners. The home department is also considering hiring dieticians to monitor the health of the prisoners, the official added.
The officials of the home department are also cautious over introducing gymnasiums in the jails considering past experience. In Nagpur jail, the inmates used the gym equipments and weights to fight with each other, which became a nuisance for the jail administration. Finally, the gym was closed down. “Taking a cue from the past incident, we will not be keeping such equipments in the gym with the help of which the inmates can attack each other,” Mr Singh added.
