The Mumbai Central Prison, also referred to as Arthur Road Jail, was built in 1926, and is

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

's largest and oldest

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. It houses most of the city's prisoners. It was declared a Central Jail in 1972. Although its name was changed to Mumbai Central Prison, it is still often referred to as Arthur Road Jail. The jail occupies of land.

Location

The jail is located near Jacob Circle/Sat Rasta, between the

Mahalaxmi railway station Mahalaxmi (Pronunciation: əɦaːləkʂmiː station code: MX), also spelled Mahalakshmi, is a railway station on the Western Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. Trains starting from pass through Mahalaxmi. The next s ...

and

Chinchpokli railway station Chinchpokli (formerly Chinchpugli, station code: CHG) is a railway station on the Central Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. The station was opened on 9th December 1867. History Chinchpokli railway station was opened on 9th December 1867 ...

and the

Jacob Circle monorail station Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk is a monorail station and the southernmost terminus of the Mumbai Monorail, serving the area of Mahalaxmi and Byculla in South Mumbai. It was inaugurated on 3 March 2019 by Piyush Goyal, the then Railway Minister and D ...

in the southern part of the city. It is now surrounded by residential property renting for Rs 12–25,000/sq foot, while commercial property is leased for Rs 30–60,000/sq foot.

Conditions

The jail was originally built to accommodate 800 prisoners but the average number of inmates is 2900—far exceeding its capacity in terms of space, sanitation and other facilities. It is often reported that the jail is overcrowded, and there have been proposals to build another such facility in the eastern suburbs of

Mankhurd Mankhurd (Pronunciation: aːnkʰuɾd̪(ə) is a suburb in eastern Mumbai, Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Ara ...

to ease the load on the jail. The State Human Rights Commission had often suggested that the prison be decongested. Furthermore, a committee which was appointed to inspect the security of the jail has suggested that the prison be shifted due to many high rise constructions around the jail. In June 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the superintendent of the prison wrote to BMC to ask them to start a vaccination drive for the prisoners. In July 2021, eight new barracks were added to the jail which could house 200 additional inmates. There were several delays in construction, which lasted five years, due to shortage of funds. This was done in an attempt to alleviate the overcrowding situation, something that the prison authorities were frequently criticized for.

Prison violence

The jail has seen instances of prison violence amongst gangs. In 2006, a clash between the members of gangs belonging to

Dawood Ibrahim Dawood Ibrahim (, ; born 26 December 1955) is an Indian mob boss, drug lord, and terrorist. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim is wanted on charges including ...

and

Chhota Rajan Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje (born 13 January 1957), popularly known by his moniker Chhota Rajan, is an Indian gangster and convicted criminal who was the crime lord of a major Mumbai-based syndicate. Rajan was extradited from Bali to India on 6 ...

broke out. After this incident, the authorities started lodging opposing groups in different parts of the jail. In 2010, a violent clash broke out between the gangster

Abu Salem Abu Salem ( ; born Abu Salem Abdul Qayoom Ansari), also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist1993 Bombay serial blasts, which let to Salem's face being slashed with a sharpened spoon.

Notable inmates

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

, a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actor who was imprisoned for illegal possession of weapons *

Ajmal Kasab Muhammad Ajmal Amir Kasab (13 July 1987 – 21 November 2012) was a Pakistani terrorist and a member of the Islamism, Islamist militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba through which he took part in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, 2008 Mumbai terr ...

, a Pakistani terrorist and member of

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani Islamism, Islamist militant organization driven by a Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist ideology. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was founded in 19 ...

who took part in the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

Abu Salem Abu Salem ( ; born Abu Salem Abdul Qayoom Ansari), also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist *

Aryan Khan Aryan Khan (born 12 November 1997) is an Indian entrepreneur, actor, and filmmaker. He is the elder son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri Khan. After graduating from the University of Southern California, he co-founded the company Slab ...

, son of actor

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

, was sent to this prison for drug related offenses *

Anil Deshmukh Anil Vasantrao Deshmukh (born 9 May 1950) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). Deshmukh served as the Uddhav Thackeray ministry, Minister for Home ...

, former

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

between 2019 and 2021, is currently jailed pending his trial. *

Raj Kundra Raj Kundra is a British-Indian businessman and part time actor who, in 2004, was ranked as the 198th richest British Asian by ''Success''. He has faced legal scrutiny over allegations related to the production of adult content and involvement ...

, British-Indian businessman, and husband of actress

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty, 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi, Kannada and Telugu films. She made her screen debut in the thriller '' Baazigar'' (1993) which gained her first nomination for the Film ...

was sent to this prison for a pornography case.

Popular culture

The prison features in

Gregory David Roberts Gregory David Roberts (born Gregory John Peter Smith; 1952) is an Australian author best known for his novel '' Shantaram''. He is a former heroin addict and convicted bank robber who escaped from Pentridge Prison in 1980 and fled to India, w ...

' award-winning book '' Shantaram'', which details his life on the run and his time spent in Mumbai, including a stint in Arthur Road. Several scenes in

Katherine Boo Katherine J. "Kate" Boo (born August 12, 1964) is an American investigative journalist who has documented the lives of people in poverty. She has received the MacArthur Fellowship (2002), the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), and her wor ...

's ''

Behind the Beautiful Forevers Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is a 2012 non-fiction book by Katherine Boo. The book chronicles the lives of residents in Annawadi, a slum near the Mumbai airport, offering an intimate portrait of pov ...

'' take place in the facility.

References