GUWAHATI, Sept 23 - Jails in Assam, where the prevalence rate of psychological disorders has always been on the higher side, will soon have a first-of-its-kind full-fledged mental care hospital, a facility which very few jails in India can boast of.
To start with, Tezpur Central Jail has been chosen for the mental care hospital which would cater to the mental health care requirements of both male and female inmates. The four other Central jails of the State will also have such facilities in a phased manner.
Plans are also afoot to turn the hospital in Tezpur jail into a centre where experts would study, analyse and map the mental well-being of inmates, besides drawing a road map to address the issue.
The development assumes significance in view of the high prevalence rate of psychological disorders among the jail inmates, not just in Assam but across the country.
Sources said that to begin with the mental care hospital inside the Tezpur Central Jail will be a 30-bed facility where 10 beds will be dedicated to women prisoners, including undertrials.
�Very few jails in the country have such a facility in place. Such facility is the need of the hour with majority of the inmates, especially those who remain jailed for a longer period are found to be suffering from some kind of mental disorder,� the sources told The Assam Tribune.
When contacted, Inspector General (Prisons) Barnali Sarma confirmed the development and said that once the full-fledged mental health care set-up comes into being, it would be easier for the jail authorities to address mental health concerns of the inmates not just in Tezpur jail but all the jails in the State.
�Upon receiving appropriate order from the court, inmates from other jails could be shifted to the Tezpur Central Jail for medical attention, which in a way would reduce our dependency on police department for security,� she said.
She said that such developments are part of the reformative approach that the jail authorities are initiating.
Assam at present has 31 jails and most of them were overcrowded till the Supreme Court ordered for their decongestion in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
