While all over the country, the number of inmates in prions is increasing every year, after formation of Telangana state, it has been witnessing steep drops in number of prisoners. While after the formation of the state, the prison population was over 99,000 in 2014, which was came down to 62,608 by the end of 2016, marking more than 30 per cent of fall. The number of prison inmates were 79,409 by the end of 2015.

The sudden fall in the number of prisoners seems to be surprising to many. However, Director General of Prisons V K Singh credited police department and his own department’s prisoners’ reformation programmes. “The credit goes to the police department for prevention of crime and prisons department for effective reformative measures,” Singh said. The number of prisoners include convicts and under trials.

However, a lawyer says that in the post bifurcation there was halt for lodging prisoners from Rayalaseema here. The Jail Department is also now making profits to the government through its revenue earning activities. “The department managed to get a turnover of Rs 296.18 crore, which was Rs 3.03 crore in 2014. The income has increased to 100 per cent in three years with development of prison industries and petrol pumps”, Singh added.

He said that they are planning to set up 100 more petrol pumps in 50 places across Telangana, as it also provides employment to the prisoner. He has also has set up a call centre to receive calls from public and released prisoners regarding corruption in the department.