Chikkamagaluru: There is a general feeling that prisons are only a place to be punished. However, the District Jail near Ratnagiribore in Chikkamagaluru District has got a modern touch and has emerged as a beautiful place for the inmates.
As soon as you step outside the car, you will get rid of the feeling of being in a prison and feel like enjoying the natural beauty of a new park in a city or a big town, or in a hill range.
A hill peak has been constructed in the empty space of the prison. There is a temple on the hill. There is a fountain that bounces from the bottom to the top.
Flowers of different colours have bloomed. Education is power and a school has come up called ‘Arive Guru’. The rural beauty is depicted. The love of mother and child is shown.
If you step inside the jail, you will have to keep your mobile phone at a designated place. Other items, including clothes brought to the prisoners, will be checked with modern technology. When they are thoroughly scanned. We will find guides, poets, philosophers’ conversions, moral teachings, beautiful life-shaping and constructing writings.
The Office of the Superintendent of the District Jail too can be seen. Those who have seen the horizon of this Office will immediately know that the prison has been completely changed. Flowers of different species stand there and greet those who have come to the jail by nodding their heads as soon as the wind blows.
The park has been constructed on the vacant land of the jail. A bench has been set up to sit comfortably to see the beautiful surroundings here. An old fan is tied to a high pole and rotates when the wind blows. A mock of a windmill is on display. This gives the impression that electricity can be produced.
In this prison, the life of village is recreated. A house of grass has been built. A woman is sweeping in front of her house, a hen looking for fodder, and next to it is a school with the name of Arive Guru. A brother can be seen holding his sister’s hand and taking her to school.
In front of the women’s prison, a duck is seen swimming in a pond, while on the other hand, a woman is seen taking water from a pot and holding it to her waist, and when the mother arrives, a calf bends over the bushes to satisfy her hunger and drinks milk.
There is another garden in front of the kitchen, with Adishesha built on the pond, with a krishna playing flute, besides there is peacock and swan. A pattern of a long flute is placed on the bank of the pond. The ornamental coffee pots add to the beauty of the garden. At a short distance from the waterfall, there is a mother who is feeding a baby. On the other hand, you can see a roaring warrior. The Kannada map has a picture of Bhuvaneshwari in front of it.
Mullayanagiri, Bababudangiri, Manikyadhara, Deviramma betta and Hebbe waterfalls have also been created. This beautiful garden has been constructed using the waste materials in the jail. Surprisingly no outsiders are used to produce these arts, only inmates are involved in work.
There are more than 300 inmates and Superintendent of Police Srisaila S. Meti who are giving the jail a more attractive look. People who come to meet the prisoners are appreciating the atmosphere here.
