Salon in the slammer: Agra district jail gets Jawed Habib outlet for inmates
India Today
Now, inmates in the Agra district jail will be able to get a proper haircut and other grooming services with the opening of a Jawed Habib salon on the premises.
The Agra district jail is probably the only prison in Uttar Pradesh that now offers quality grooming services to inmates, through a Jawed Habib salon on the premises.
The Agra district jail was originally constructed as a rest house for Haj pilgrims in the year 1741. Now it houses mostly under-trials who are either awaiting hearing of their bail pleas, or waiting to be sentenced. Such prisoners may have to spend several months in jail without getting a proper shave or haircut.
Now, inmates will be able to get a proper haircut and other cosmetic services. One inmate said the Jawed Habib salon was opened through the efforts of the district jail superintendent PD Salonia, who always tries to make prison life as trouble-free as possible for the prisoners.
“There are over 2,000 prisoners in the district jail, most of whom are under-trials. It is always my effort to make an inmate’s life a bit more bearable, especially for those who have been accused of crimes but have not yet been sentenced,” jail superintendent PD Salonia told India Today.
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Salonia said that while the country was battling surge of infections during the second and third Covid-19 waves, the virus could not enter the Agra district jail. Covid protocols were strictly adhered to by the prison staff and prisoners alike. It was due to this diligence that not a single inmate was infected with Covid during the second and third waves.
Vouching for the efforts of the jail superintendent in keeping the prison infection-free, an inmate who has been incarcerated for the past two years said that Salonia personally ensures that Covid protocols are followed. If there had been the slightest relaxation in following these protocols, there would have been hundreds of deaths in the jail where prisoners live in close quarters.
