Location Naini, India Security class High security Capacity 3,000 | Status Open Managed by Uttar Pradesh Police | |
Naini Central Prison or Naini Jail at Naini, near Allahabad, is one of the most important prisons, and correctional Institutions in Uttar Pradesh, built during the British Raj.
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Independence movement history
It became famous in pre-independence era, when many freedom fighters, including Motilal Nehru (1930), Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru (1930, March 1945), the first Prime Minister of India, Govind Ballabh Pant, Narendra Dev, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai were imprisoned during Indian independence movement. Jawaharlal Nehru during his stay, wrote a series of letters to his young daughter Indira from the prison, starting on his thirteenth birthday till August 9, 1933, which were later published as Glimpses of World History
On March 1, 1941, Mahatma Gandhi visited the Jail as he called on imprisoned freedom fighters, Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Abul Kalam Azad
Also Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter and a later Prime Minister of India was arrested along with her husband Feroze Gandhi, and spent her prison term here, from September 11, 1942 until May 13, 1943
Recent news
Lately, it has witnessed security concerns as it houses, not just a few Members of Parliament, but sharpshooters and gang lords from Purvanchal, including Sujeet Belwa and Rajesh Yadav, and rumours that gang wars were being raged from inside the prison. Apart from that many militants belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba are also imprisoned here.
In 2008, the prison made news again, when 97 prisoners who had already completed their 14-year sentence, wrote to the President asking for euthanasia
After health concerns in the prison in 2008, when 17 inmates died over a period of five months, and as many as 239 inmates, were found to be suffering from ailments like tuberculosis, scabies and water-borne diseases, the government has taken measure to improve health services available to the inmates in the prison.