Tihar Jail

Originally, Tihar was a maximum-security prison run by the State of Punjab. In 1966 control was transferred to the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Beginning in 1984, additional facilities were constructed, and the complex became Tihar Prison, also the largest jail in India.

Under the charge of Kiran Bedi, when she was Inspector General of Prisons, she instituted a number of prison reforms at Tihar, including changing its name to Tihar Ashram. She also instituted a Vipassana meditation program for both staff and inmates; initial classes were taught by S. N. Goenka. The Prison has also produced an inmate who has passed the UPSC civil service examinations.[7]

Many of the inmates continue their higher education through distance education. The campus placement program was launched in 2011 for the rehabilitation of inmates about to complete their sentences. In 2014, a recruitment drive led to 66 inmates selected on the basis of their good conduct, received job offers with salaries up to ₹35,000 (US$490) per month, from as many as 31 recruiters, which included educational institutions, NGOs and private companies.[8][9]

In 1961, the Jail Factory was established in Central Jail No.2, at Tihar. Over the years its activities have expanded to include Carpentry, Weaving (Handloom & Powerloom), Tailoring, Chemical, Handmade paper, Commercial art, and Bakery. Later in 2009, a shoe manufacturing unit was established using the Public-Private Partnership model, and thus the brand TJ's was launched. As of May 2014, 700 inmates work in these units, and 25% of their earnings are deposited in the Victim Welfare Fund, which provides compensation to the victims and their families.[10]

Tihar Jail muffin and brownie

• Sanjay Gandhi, former Member of Parliament and husband of Menaka Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi.
• Aniket Dey, Cyber Expert/Author, arrested for involvement in student protests while at JNU
• Kanhaiya Kumar[11]
• Lalu Yadav
• Subrata Roy[12]
• Chhota Rajan
• Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, former Parliament security officers, hanged for the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
• Charles Sobhraj, an international serial killer, escaped from Tihar on 16 March 1986, but was recaptured shortly thereafter, returned to the prison and sentenced to an additional ten years for the escape. He was released on completion of his term on 17 February 1997.
• Ripun Bora, education minister of Assam's Tarun Gogoi-led Congressional government, the main suspect in the Daniel Topno murder case, was arrested by CBI officials on 3 June 2008 and sent to Tihar on 7 June 2008.
• The accused in the 2G spectrum case, including A. Raja, M. K. Kanimozhi, Vinod Goenka, Shahid Balwa, and Sanjay Chandra.[13]
• Suresh Kalmadi, former president of the Indian Olympic Association, who was arrested for alleged corruption regarding the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[13]
• Kuljeet Singh and Jasbir Singh, executed in 1982 for the Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping case
• Amar Singh, former member of the Samajwadi Party, arrested in a cash-for-votes scandal.[14]
• Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, Indian social activists fighting against corruption, were imprisoned in Tihar for protesting conflicts between differing Civil Society and UPA Government anti-corruption bills, known as the Jan Lokpal Bill and the Lokpal Bill, respectively.
• Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, Khalistani militants, main accused in the assassination of Punjab Chief minister Beant Singh[15]
• Abhishek Verma (billionaire arms dealer), one of main accused in Navy War Room Leak case & Scorpene Submarines deal.
• Anca Neacsu[16][17](wife of arms dealer Abhishek Verma) co-accused in all his corruption cases[18]
• Afzal Guru, the Kashmiri separatist and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist involved in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, who was hanged on 9 February 2013.
• 5 of the accused in the 2012 Delhi gang rape; Ram Singh (committed suicide in March 2013), Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta & Vinay Sharma; they were hanged on 20 March 2020.
• Maqbool Bhat a Kashmiri separatist leader who waged a war for secession of Kashmir as a separate state from India and Pakistan.
• Milkha Singh, for travelling in a train without ticket.[19]
• P. Chidambaram, Judicial custody in relation to the INX media Corruption case.[20]
• D. K. Shivakumar, Money Launderer.[21]

In June 2015, Two prisoners have escaped from India's maximum-security Tihar jail in Delhi by digging a tunnel under a wall and scaling another, authorities said.[22]

The prison complex has no facilities for keeping paraplegic pre-trial inmates or convicts.[23]

The Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre reports that around 6% to 8% of the 11,800 Tihar inmates are HIV-positive, which is considerably higher than the HIV rate among the general population in India.[24]

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a 1997 documentary about the introduction of S. N. Goenka's 10-day Vipassana classes at Tihar Jail in 1993 by then Inspector General of Prisons in New Delhi, Kiran Bedi. Bedi had her guards trained in Vipassana first, and then she had Goenka give his initial class to 1,000 prisoners.[25]

• Tihar Prisons Official website
• Tihar Prisons Official Website (in Hindi)