Mangaluru : The budget announcement on the construction of a new Central Prison on the outskirts of Mangaluru has brought relief to prison officials here.

For the last few years, the State Prison’s Department has been seeking approval for a new prison as the officials were finding it hard to control inmates in a crammed space in the existing one.

The present prison, which has an old and a new building, has seen many instances of clashes among inmates. There have also been attacks on prison staff and police officials. The flashpoint was the murder of underworld operative Chota Shakeel’s aide Madoor Isubbu and Ganesh Shetty in November 2015.

The murder resulted in the State government getting the services of the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force personnel for perimeter security. Steps were taken to strengthen the screening process and install mobile phone jammers. The installation of the jammers at the prison, which is now in the central part of the city, has affected residents staying in an area within a 500-metre radius from the prison.

The new prison will be built on 63.89 acres of land in Mudipu. Director-General of Police (Prisons) H.N. Sathyanarayana said that they had taken possession of the land. “We will soon get the money for levelling the land and building the compound wall.”

Mr. Sathyanarayana said that it would take three years to begin construction of the new prison that would have a hospital, staff quarters, watch tower and industrial and vocational training centres, he said.