The two day 7th National Conference of Heads of Prisons of all States/Union Territories, was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State, for Home Affairs, Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra, in New Delhi today. In his inaugural address the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs emphasized on the following points:

• 1. The gathering in the Conference, i.e., 75 Senior Prison Officers from 25 States and 4 Union Territories, is the right platform to deliberate on the issues and frame a policy which will have a wider perspective and wider acceptability.
• 2. The main challenge for reintegrating inmates into the mainstream of society is providing a safe environment to them.
• 3. Jail systems must have provisions for providing training and skill development for people living inside prisons and aftercare programmes.
• 4. The concept of e-prisons saves time and makes the process easier for further associating with the courts. Another important aspect of e-prisons is e-mulakaat, which has made the process easy for inmates to contact their families.

DG, BPR&D, Shri Balaji Srivastava, said the deliberations in the Conference will be useful for preparing short term, mid-term and long-term policies. He also briefed about different initiatives undertaken by the BPR&D on Prisons/Correctional Administration, such as:

• Developing Parameters for Ranking of Prisons.
• Preparation of 50 Prison Training Manuals for various categories of Staff and Officers in Jails.
• Formulation of Model Prison Legislation.

On the first day of the Conference, the following themes were deliberated upon:

• Panel Discussion on “Correctional Services in India: A Perspective”.
• Presentation on Research Projects on Prisons/Correctional Administration.
• Syndicate discussions on Preparing a Decadal Road Map for Prisons and Correctional Services.

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NW/RK/AY/RR