Prisoners of Colvale
By Wendell Rodricks
I am now convinced that in any part of the world, one can stumble on
Goans. Jet Airways London Heathrow General Manager is the charming
Desmond D’Sa. On streets in Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Cracow were I
spent the last month, I met many Goans.
The biggest surprise was in Prague.
For a miraculous prayer, I went to the Church of Our Lady Victorious
to see the dazzling gold and silver altar with the famous Infant Jesus
of Prague. When I asked to bless the rosaries I purchased, I met a
Goan priest. Fr. Vincent Fernandes has been in residence, (transferred
from London) since 2000. Ofcourse he had heard of Goa Today. For the
cache of Infant Jesus photographs and prayer brochures he gave me, I
hope this copy reaches him with grateful thanks.
Back home in Goa, I watched the green hills of the motherland approach
the descending aircraft. A most pleasurable emotion. Home at last!
Jetlag can be a killer; it can take a week to recover. However, the
next day after I arrived, I decided to prolong my sightseeing and did
what I wanted to do a long time ago.
Read what follows tongue in-cheek, thought provoking though it may be.
On the Colvale hills, I set out to see the new Colvale prison, under
construction. At the moment it is a big cement rectangle comprising a
very high wall, with multiple watch towers. The quantity of cement is
staggering. Some 50 crore rupees (75% from the Centre) will flow into
this state of the art prison. Each prisoner gets 83 sq. mts (surely a
general calculation of the entire jail, which will house 600 inmates).
It’s all very high tech. People in power can speak to inmates (I can
imagine the suave Home Minister in Delhi asking an inmate if he is OK
or not). Seriously, they feel this will be India’s best “prison
management” exercise. The Colvale jail will have no women prisoners.
Where will all those dancing girls and other women go to? Maybe the
Sada jail at Vasco?
In contrast, the Aguada jail has space for 125 males and 25 females. I
have always wondered about the Aguada jail. Infact I am envious of the
prisoners who have that view. I can see a few of them getting very
comfy. No rent. Free meals. Great view. Hey! This sounds like a ride.
At our tax expense! Sometimes I wonder why our taxes need to go to
feed and house prisoners. The hard core criminals definitely need to
be behind bars. But they get some 600 gms rice and lentils per day
(which poor tribals and the truly improvised never get). Worse is why
filmstars are kept prisoners instead of making some money for the
state. Put celeb criminals in jail but let them out to do a few dance
steps and give those multiple crore earnings to the state. Salman Khan
got 90 lakh to do a few dance steps at IFFI year before last, right?
Do the Math!
Talking of which, the alleged crime of Shiney Ahuja has quickly been
tried by media while a terrorist case like Kasab, viewed by millions
live, is gobbling crores worth of state time, lawyers, paperwork and
prison upkeep. Isn’t there an imbalance here?
Going back to the Aguada jail; what will become of it? A hotel or spa
to the highest bidder I guess. I would never check in there at the
thought that I may share air space that paedophile Freddy Peats
breathed.
These serious criminal cases need to go on the fast track to closure.
While some justly irate feminists suggest a castration in public,
Taliban style, others would like to see a quicker route to the death
penalty. A difficult judgement to pronounce. I was once seated near a
Canadian lawyer between Ottawa and Toronto. A lecturer at the Toronto
University, he “specialised in cases where innocents were unjustly
serving jail sentences”. Really? “Yes” he replied. “Some languished
for twenty five years, falsely condemned”. What happens then? “Well,
we got the state to cough up 6 million dollars. But it was useless.
After 25 years in jail, the man had no value for money and was too old
to enjoy it “. On the day I met this advocate, he was on his way to
meet an Indian housewife who he was certain was innocent.
It is a double edged sword to rush into a judgement. High profile
cases can “create” innocent criminals because everyone : the police,
the law and the public, want to see someone in jail.
If this is the case the least that can be done is to expiate the truly
gruesome, publicly committed crimes (like Kasab’s televised shoot
out).
Their fate drags on endlessly at the Government and tax payers cost.
It is incredible that a man rapes a seven year old girl in Goa,
inflicts her with AIDs and is out on bail. In comparison Shiney’s
alleged case is not as serious (but serious nevertheless).
I hope the inmates of the new jail are put to work in Colvale. They
can do so much that we need – Build roads. Control a garbage
processor. Yes! Let them work and generate income instead of our taxes
going to keep them content.
When I was walking on the periphery of the jail, someone whispered
“They are going to have a
