Experience a Day in Jail: Hyderabad's Unique Prison Museum Opens

The Jail Museum and the unique 'Jail Anubhavam (Feel the Jail Experience)' were inaugurated by Telangana Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla at the State Institute of Correctional Administration (SICA), Chanchalguda.

Citizens are offered a structured 24-hour/12-hour paid prison experience, including prison accommodation, prison food, discipline, routines, and regulated activities.

According to state Director General of Prisons & Correctional Services, Soumya Mishra, the initiative aims to create awareness about prison life, lawful conduct, human values, and the importance of freedom and social responsibility.

She clarified that the objective of the programme is education, empathy, awareness, and understanding of correctional systems and inmate rehabilitation.

The Prisons Department has launched the official website www.telanganajailexperience.com for public visits and online slot bookings for the Telangana Prisons Museum and "Feel the Jail Experience/Jail Anubhavam."

DG Mishra stated that the Telangana Prisons Museum has been developed as a comprehensive institution of awareness, education, research, and reflection. She said that the earlier jail museum at Sangareddy had collapsed a few years ago, following which the department took the initiative to revive and expand the concept into a modern and immersive museum at Chanchalguda.

The museum showcases the evolution of prisons from ancient systems of punishment to modern correctional practices through thematic galleries, recreated jail structures, historical prison artefacts, punishment-related exhibits, and sections on prison reforms and rehabilitation, she added.

The official highlighted that one of the museum's important sections documents the contribution of prisons and inmate labour during the construction of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam between 1961 and 1968, where prisoners worked in an open-air jail established at the project site.

This is the fifth Jail Museum in India, after the Andaman & Nicobar, Alipore (Kolkata), Bengaluru, and Goa.

The Governor stated that the establishment of the Telangana Prisons Museum marks a historic milestone in the evolution of correctional administration in the state. He observed that in earlier times, prisons across the world, including in India, were largely centres of punishment where inmates were subjected to severe physical and mental hardship. Such harsh prison practices, he noted, continued even during the early years after Independence.

However, he emphasised that over the years, prison systems have undergone a remarkable transformation from punitive institutions into centres of correction, rehabilitation, reformation, and human dignity. He stated that the Telangana Prisons Museum beautifully captures this journey of transformation and provides society with a realistic understanding of prison administration and inmate life.

Appreciating the initiative of the Telangana Prisons Department, Shukla congratulated Mishra along with her team of officers and staff for conceptualising and establishing this unique institution.

The Governor said that the museum is not merely a collection of historical artefacts, but a living narrative of the evolution of justice, punishment, correction, and human reform. Through painting galleries, recreated old jail barracks, prison artefacts, shackles, chains, fetters, gallows, and audio-visual exhibits, visitors can witness the realities of prison life in earlier centuries and understand how modern prisons have evolved into reformative institutions.

He further stated that the museum and the "Feel the Jail Experience/Jail Anubhavam" initiative will help the public gain a better understanding of prison systems, inmate life, discipline, and correctional administration. He observed that these initiatives project the changing image of prisons in modern society and promote awareness, empathy, responsibility, and respect for the law.

The Governor also appreciated the reformative and rehabilitative initiatives undertaken by the Telangana Prisons Department in the areas of inmate welfare, vocational training, prison industries, agriculture, skill development, and social reintegration.

- IANS