Indira Gandhi herself (later prime minister of India) was arrested along with her husband Feroze Gandhi and spent her prison term in Naini, from 11 September 1942 until 13 May 1943.[4]
Issues
The prison has witnessed security concerns as it houses not just a few members of parliament, but sharpshooters and gang lords from Purvanchal, including Sujeet Belwa and Rajesh Yadav, and rumours that gang wars were being raged from inside the prison. Many militants belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba are also imprisoned here.[5][6]
In 2008, 97 prisoners who had already completed their sentences wrote to the president of India asking to be euthanised.[7] That same year, 17 inmates died over a period of five months, and as many as 239 inmates were found to be suffering from ailments like tuberculosis, scabies and water-borne diseases, forcing the government to implement improved health services available to the incarcerated.[8][9]