3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jun 28, 2026 09:13 PM IST
A proposal to redevelop Mumbai’s historic Arthur Road jail faces a peculiar hurdle: the severe overcrowding it is actually trying to solve. While for the past year discussions are on regarding redeveloping Arthur Road jail into a multi-storey prison to tackle overcrowding, authorities are currently figuring out where can the over 3,000 prisoners be moved temporarily? The proposal for redevelopment, which may take years to implement, first needs a practical solution on where to move the inmates.
Arthur Road jail or the Mumbai Central Prison, as it is officially called, has 3,365 prisoners as of Saturday, which is over three times its official sanctioned capacity of 999. Spread over six acres with 20 barracks and cells within, including high-security egg-shaped ones called anda cell, the 100-year-old jail situated in central Mumbai, surrounded by high-rises, needs more space to expand.
Over the past year, Minister of State (Home) Yogesh Kadam, has held meetings for a redevelopment proposal for the prison. One of the plans was to have three eight-floor buildings to house prisoners, with the prison department flagging issues in the design. A reworked proposal is looking into whether there can be more buildings or floors to house more prisoners, to accommodate at least the current average population which is over 3,000, an official said.
While the redevelopment is most likely to be carried out by the Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation, the discussion has been on whether the redevelopment can be carried out in phases. This would shifting only part of the prison population to another jail in the city, while construction for the redevelopment can be initiated. “The prison department has flagged this as a concern, stating that large scale construction cannot be done with many prisoners still residing in the jail as it can become a security issue,” an official said. Other jails on the outskirts of the city, including Thane, Taloja and Kalyan, too face overcrowding and will be unable to house the temporary population from Arthur Road jail.
The proposal then hinges on first building another jail first to move the population into. Last month, 11 acres of land near the eastern suburb of Mankhurd, was handed over to the Central prison administration, for construction of a new jail, after removing existing encroachment for the construction of a new jail complex.
“A multi-storey jail has not been constructed so far in the state. We have to keep in mind many aspects, foremost the security of prisoners, how to deal with their multiple movements throughout the day, from being taken to courts for hearings to hospital visits, releasing those who get bail, mulaqats. In a multi-storey complex, these logistics have to be taken care of. We also have to keep in mind the design to have them move around in an open space during some hours of the day.
Once all this is resolved, we will have to fast track the construction of a jail in Mankhurd, in the next 2-3 years to be able to redevelop Arthur Road,” an official said.
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