What went into making the new manual? Were all views from different authorities incorporated?Teams of home and law departments and prominent legal experts have done extensive research to prepare the new manual. Several views of the Supreme Court and different high courts have been incorporated, as have points from jail manuals of other states. We have also mentioned the basic things that need to be upgraded in our jails.

What will be done about prisons lacking basic medical facilities for undertrials and convicts?All jails in state will be equipped with super-specialty medical facilities. The advanced medical care will ensure convicts remain in jail for treatment instead of having to go to hospitals outside.Also, there will be complete screening facilities for all inmates to find out their medical problems, so that issues can be treated before they become complicated. We will also have specialists and psychiatrists at the medical centres on jail premises.In other measures, we plan to conduct HIV and other tests of inmates and issue them health cards, which will have detailed information about their ' health. Also, holding medical camps inside jails from time to time has been made mandatory.

Why do undertrials not reach courts on time for their hearings? What measures have been taken to avoid this?There is a shortage of vehicles and police personnel. Once the new manual comes in, taking undertrials to courts will be a thing of the past. All jails will be equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art video-conferencing facilities.

Some women convicts bring their kids in jail; is there any provision for the children?The new manual makes provision for crèches, aangan wadis and schools for such kids.

Undertrials and convicts are put in the same jails; is that likely to change?Yes. The new manual mandates separate wards for young offenders in every jail, so that they don't mingle with hardened criminals.

Are there any plans for training convicts professionally?Jail authorities will be equipped with providing skill development to prisoners. There are certain convicts who specialise in certain skills, they will be given extensive training for the same. We can utilise their services to train others too.

Is there a mention of entertainment and motivation in the new manual?The extensive research we did to prepare the new manual showed us that entertainment and motivational activities should be provided to convicts and undertrials. So, there is a provision for showing documentaries and motivational movies to the inmates, besides yoga, spiritual motivation and other activities. We also plan to invite yoga guru/s and motivational speakers renowned worldwide from time to time.

What about maintaining a database of convicts? Wouldn't that be useful?Yes, we will do that. Jail superintendents will be entrusted with the task of taking photographs of all inmates, their fingerprints and have their voices recorded. The photographs will be stored and the admission registers computerised. Advanced speech recognition technology will be introduced.

There are all sorts of prisoners in 'jail', even petty criminals. Isn't it a harsh sounding word for such inmates?We plan to rechristen it as Sudhar Griha, instead of jails, for those imprisoned for petty crimes.

How will you ensure sanitation and cleanliness?Cooking in kitchens and distribution of food will be monitored through closed-circuit television cameras. This is being done to improve the quality of food served to prisoners.

Will jails be equipped with enhanced security arrangements?All prisons will have advanced gadgets for security in and around the premises, besides other infrastructure such as night-vision devices and central control room.