990-Capacity District Jail

The new District Jail at Hathras, for the Prisons Department of Uttar Pradesh with UP PWD, holds 990 prisoners. Its site of about 65 acres lies about 8 kilometres from the Hathras bus stand and 17 kilometres from Hathras Junction, on open farmland that needed cutting and filling to take the buildings. The plan was approved by the Jail Department.

Walls within walls

Security is built up in rings. An outer boundary wall encloses the whole site and the staff housing. Inside it, a main jail wall 6.7 metres high is shadowed by a 6-metre patrolling road and a 30-metre clear zone kept free of buildings, so that every approach can be watched from the corner watch towers. Within the main wall, circle walls divide the jail into separate enclosures for men, women and young adults, and partition walls split each enclosure further, with a central watch tower, circle office and canteen at the hub.

What the jail holds

• Six two-storey barracks for 120 men each, with land kept for future barracks
• Barracks of 60 for women, young adults and quarantine, with single rooms and high security barracks for 48
• Two hospital wards of 24 beds, with a cell for sensitive prisoners, and a hospital, crèche and kitchen for women
• Schools for men, women and young adults, a multipurpose hall, a bakery, work sheds and farmland
• An administrative block with video conferencing, a visitor shed and identification room at the gate

Outside the main wall, the staff live on the same site: 162 Type II homes, Type III and IV homes, a dormitory, a guest house, a community centre and a sports complex. The buildings total about 31,200 square metres, about 16,200 within the jail and 15,000 for the staff.

Brick and shade

The buildings are in red brick, with deep verandahs on the barracks and pierced brick bands along the parapets, which shade the walls and let air through.