Madras Central Prison was one of the oldest prisons in India. It was located in Chennai (formerly Madras) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It became operational during the British Raj period. Its prisoners were moved to the newly constructed

Puzhal Central Prison Pulhal Central Prison is a central prison complex located in Chennai (Chennai District), India. It is about 23 km from the city centre. The prison became operational from 2006 replacing the erstwhile Chennai Central Prison. Construction The p ...

starting in 2006, with the 172 year old prison being demolished in June 2009.

History

Madras Central Prison was one of the oldest prisons in India. It was started during British rule in 1837. It was initially called the Madras penitentiary until 1855 when it was renamed to Central Jail. It was originally built to house transit convicts who were to face the 'sazaye kaala paani' in Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and constructed at the cost of Rs 16,496 on of land. It is said that the call for independence found its echo more in the Madras Presidency than elsewhere in the princely States. Many of those freedom fighters were arrested and lodged here; it is said a few of them died in custody. There were 1,778 prisoners in the prison as of January 2002, of which 500 required to be produced in different courts in Chennai and mofussil (rural) areas including Tiruchi, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli.

Notable prisoners

The prison housed

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

and Veer Savarkar during the days of independence movement. C. N. Annadurai, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of

Dravidian Movement The Dravidian movement in British India started with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar along with T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non- ...

was housed here for his

Anti Hindi agitations The anti-Hindi-imposition agitations in Tamil Nadu were a series of agitations that happened in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras State and part of Madras Presidency) during both pre- and post-independence periods. The agitations ...

. The prison also housed former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,

M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

and chief minister of Tamil Nadu

J. Jayalalitha Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

during the trial involving corruption cases. Also, several international figures, including

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, Maoist leader of Nepal,

Chandra Prakash Gajurel Chandra Prakash Gajurel "Prakash" ( ne, चन्द्रप्रकाश गजुरेल, born 29 April 1948) is a Nepalese political activist who is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M). Hi ...

were imprisoned here.

1999 riots

In 1999, some of the inmates rioted following the death of an inmate named

Boxer Vadivelu Boxer Vadivelu was a fisherman and criminal from Power Kuppam, Kasimedu. He started by collecting extortion money from the markets at the Royapuram fishing harbour. Vadivelu then transported foreign liquor and goods from Kasimedu, Royapuram an ...

. They set fire to a room where the assistant warden had taken refuge. Riot police were called in to contain the riots; the police initially used tear gas to quell the rioters, before resorting to live ammunition. In the battle which ensued between the inmates and the riot police, 10 people, including a prison official, were killed, while more than 100 people were injured.

Relocation

The Madras Central prisoners were relocated to

in Puzhal in 2006 and the vacant property was handed over to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for revenue augmentation purpose in 2008. The cost of the land was estimated conservatively at Rs. 4.75 billion. Demolition of the buildings began on 14 June 2009.

New buildings for Madras Medical College

In 2010, a new campus with a six-storeyed building for Madras Medical College was built on a land covering 325,000 sq ft on the prison premises and was completed in 2012 at a cost of 566.3 million. The campus will have nearly 1,250 students and 400 faculty and staff members.

References