Hyderabad: Prisoners in Cherlapally central jail have been writing letters, complaining of harassment by prison staff, to the High Court, SHRC, the CM and home minister.
Complaints were mainly against a superintendent. It is believed that issues are deep-rooted, and point to infighting between lower grade staff and senior prison officials.
The prisoners alleged bribes are paid at every turn. Based on directions of the SHRC, the DG (prisons) ordered a probe and a report was submitted. As there was still no let-up in harassment, three prisoners from various jails wrote letters on Saturday to media and higher officials, complaining against the prison superintendent.
The three prisoners, who were shifted from Cherlapally to other jails by way of disciplinary action, wrote that the superintendent would be the responsible if they died. An official source from the prison said that such letters were one too many in recent times. “We believe prison staff are behind the letters. There is a proper channel for prisoners to write letters to others. A cold war between the lower level staff and officials is manifesting as a letters war,” the source said.
Prisons’ DIG A Narsimhulu said the department was investigating the matter. “We just came to know about the letters to the media. How did they send the letters to the media? Through which channel did they send it? Had they obtained proper permissions? These and other details are awaited,” he said.
Responding to the letter war, Prisons DG VK Singh told DC that they had sent nearly 20 hardcore criminals from Cherlapalli to other jails. “These men were maintaining gangs in Cherlapally jail and harassing the other 1,900 prisoners. They were caught red-handed using cellphones and consuming ganja. We sent them to Adilabad, Khammam and Karimnagar jails where they don’t get biryani and other items,” he said
