"Dealing with Shillong jail's overcrowding problem is part of the jail reform initiated by the government," official sources said. The recent jailbreak in Shillong prompted the government to announce a slew of measures to improve the state's jail administration.
Minister in charge of jails Paul Lyngdoh inspected the ongoing work at the Nongpoh jail, which is located at Mawsyntai, 7 km from the district headquarters on Saturday.
He said construction of the Nongpoh jail with an enhanced capacity of 100 would be completed by March 2010.
The minister said prisoners would be shifted from the overcrowded Shillong jail to the jails at Nongpoh and Nongstoin. "The construction work at Nongpoh jail that began in 2005, has been delayed due to certain constraints, especially the revised estimate cost of the project with escalating prices of raw materials," Lyngdoh said. Initially, the cost of the Nongpoh jail was estimated at Rs 5.50 crore. At present, there are 65 prisoners including 50 males and 15 females in the Nongpoh jail.