The Director General of Police (Prisons) has said that a museum for prisons will come up in Puzhal. This will showcase items presently housed in the erstwhile Central Prison premises which are slated for demolition to make way for several new developments. The idea of a prisons museum is most welcome – and an indication of sensitivity to heritage. However, the question uppermost in every conservationist’s mind is why the museum cannot be retained in part of the Central Prison premises itself, in at least one block which can be preserved as part of the city’s heritage.

In 2003, the Government decided to close the Central Jail complex near the Central Station and shift the facility to Puzhal where there already ­existed a jail premises with ­extensive land registered in its name. Following this, it was also decided that the land occupied by the jail in the heart of the city would be handed over to the General Hospital and the Chennai Metro Rail Limited for their use. The latter has decided to locate one of the stations ­catering to the planned Metro service on this spot, in addition to a commercial complex.

With the jail premises lying vacant since the shift of the Central Jail to Puzhal in 2006, the Government decided to throw it open to the public for viewing early this year. Ever since, thousands of people have been flocking to the place each day, sometimes resulting in severe traffic blocks on the overbridge that connects the Central Station. It is, however, indicative of the interest that the public has in the Central Jail and its history. Available for viewing is various equipment used for punishment, the ­gallows, and the cells in which several important personalities were imprisoned.

Overwhelmed by the res­ponse to this opening of the prison for public viewing, the prison authorities decided to locate a museum in the prison near the new jail complex in Puzhal. While the idea is good, the choice of location is not. It is necessary that museums are located in the heart of a city where they can be easily accessed. Puzhal does not fall within a tourist’s or even a city resident’s itinerary on any day and having the museum at such a remote place will only mean that it will suffer from lack of patronage and will ultimately be given up. Indeed, the Railway museum in Perambur does not get the patronage it deserves ­because of its distance from the main tourist track. What a difference it would have made if it had been located in Royapuram where Railway history began in South India.

On the other hand, if the museum was to be located in one of the restored blocks of the old Central Prison, even as the other blocks are demolished and the area developed, the museum would have splendid response. Located as it would be next to the Central Station, a (hopefully) restored Victoria Public Hall and within a stone’s throw of the Chennai Metro Station, it would be ideally situa­ted. In fact, the museum could even be integrated as part of the Chennai Metro Station complex itself, so that commu­ters and others who use the ­facility could step in and visit the place. It is to be hoped that the prison authorities will take a leaf out of the Calcutta Police’s notebook. In that city, a museum for the police has come up and it is situated not only right in the middle of the metropolis but also in a splendidly restored heritage building, the erstwhile residence of Raja Rammohun Roy. Here, in Chennai, with a ready-made prison block at their disposal, the Police could think of no better spot.