A 120-bed de-addiction centre, boasting of modern equipment, pathological laboratory and counselling facilities was inaugurated on Thursday at Tihar Jail.

The biggest centre of its kind to be started in any jail in the country for treatment, post-treatment care and counselling of prisoners addicted to drugs, the new facility was opened by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 1.76 crore, the centre in jail number 3 will help the prison administration provide better treatment under one roof to all the addicts who are scattered in various sub-jails in Tihar, Director General of Tihar Jail B K Gupta said.

"Normally eight to ten percent of the prisoners in Tihar Jail are drug addicts. We had de-addiction centres in all the sub-jails for their treatment. But now all those centres will be closed and the addicts will be shifted to this facility where their treatment will be effectively monitored," he said.

He said more than 5,000 prisoners took de-addiction treatment in Tihar in 2006.

Dikshit appealed to the prisoners to treat their stint in the jail as an opportunity to rectify and reform themselves.

"Transforming a prisoner to a responsible citizen is the philosophy of Tihar Jail. The new centre will help drug addicts to get rid of their bad habits and go back to the society as a normal person," she said.

The chief minister stressed on imparting vocational training to the prisoners so that they can do something productive after their release from the jail and become self-reliant.

Gupta, meanwhile, said CCTVs will be installed in all jails by late March, which will be helpful for round-the-clock surveillance.

According to Amitabh Bhasin, the resident medical officer of the jail, every newly admitted prisoner is medically examined on the very first day of his admission.

If a prisoner is found to be having a history of drug addiction, he or she is segregated from the other inmates.

The addicts undergo detoxification for about 15 days, after which they are provided counselling.

Gupta, however, said there is only one psychiatrist in the centre against a requirement of at least five.