Chennai, June 28 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government has ordered the permanent closure of 14 Sub-Jails, trimming the network from 96 to 82 facilities and redeploying personnel and resources to busier prisons across the State. The list includes the Cheyyar sub-jail in Tiruvannamalai, which has functioned as a special camp for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees since March 2014.

Five of the 14 facilities had already been lying dormant after temporary shutdowns between 2013 and 2020.

According to the Government Order (GO), signed by Additional Chief Secretary Dheeraj Kumar, the decision follows a recommendation from DGP (Prisons and Correctional Services) Maheshwar Dayal.

“It is purely for administrative reasons,” a senior prison official told media persons adding that staff and supplies from lightly used jails can now reinforce overcrowded sub-jails, district jails, and central prisons.

Each sub-jail carries a sanctioned strength of 13 employees — one assistant jailer, two chief head warders, two head warders, six grade II warders, a cook, and a scavenger.

Those posts will be redirected to understaffed prisons once the closures take effect.

Aside from Cheyyar, the jails marked for closure are Rasipuram and Paramathi Velur (Namakkal), Manaparai and Musiri (Tiruchy), Madurantakam (Chengalpattu), and nine other long-dormant sites.

The Home Department had sought to shutter four more sub-jails — Tiruvidaimaruthur (Thanjavur), Cuddalore, Tiruttani (Tiruvallur), and Polur (Tiruvannamalai) — but the proposal was rejected.

Inmates currently housed in the affected sub-jails will be shifted to the nearest operational prisons. Stocks of civil supplies, arms, and ammunition will also be transferred to the central prisons supervising each facility.

Land and buildings vacated by the closures are to be handed over to the Revenue Department for future use.

The Cheyyar camp, declared a special facility in 2014 to detain Sri Lankan Tamils held under the Passport Act for overstaying and criminal activity, will likewise revert to the Revenue Department’s control.

Since its conversion more than a decade ago, the camp has been under the watch of the Q Branch. Officials say the reallocation plan will help ease staffing gaps without inflating the department’s payroll.

A timeline for transferring prisoners and personnel is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

–IANS

aal/rad