Bhopal, Oct. 31: Residents can enrol for MBA and computer classes while the kids go to a playschool.

There's a gau shala (cowshed), huge tracks of farmland, a check dam and a yoga centre.

Got the picture? This is Bhopal Central Jail, spread over 152 acres.

Since 2006, the jail has been running classes for MBA and diploma in computer applications for dozens of inmates. Bhoj Open University runs the classes and all the expenses on conducting examinations are borne by the jail department.

In 2007, Mahipal Singh Rajput, a 51-year-old, had studied the Reliance Fresh model to get a master's degree in management. Over four dozen inmates have got MBA degrees.

The jail also runs vocational training courses on small scale industries, scientific farming and furniture-making.

Among its most notable features has been the involvement of the prisoners in the construction of the check dam that harvests rainwater and helped in converting an arid land into a cultivable area.

The nursery (crèche) inside the jail functions like a playschool that has toys, pictures and swings to entertain the children of the inmates. To keep the kids linked to the outside world, jail staff take them out for sightseeing every Sunday.

Inaugurated in 1992, the jail has a capacity for holding 1,400 inmates but actually houses over 4,000.

In February this year, the escape of two murder convicts from the jail's farm had prompted the Madhya Pradesh prison department to consider introducing a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled tracking system in all its central jails.

But because of bureaucratic delay and lack of clearance from chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's office, the GPS system has not been operationalised yet.

The idea had been mooted when senior prison department officials visited the jail and promised to make it the country's first to introduce a GPS-enabled prisoner tracking system.

The then deputy inspector-general of prisons (law), R.S. Vijayvargiya, had said: "Just like in the US, UK and Australia, where they have been successfully using the GPS-enabled system to keep tabs on all prisoners who work on jail farms, we too can replicate the system in Bhopal Central jail."

It was suggested that GPS-enabled ankle bracelet monitors be fitted on the prisoners, with jail guards having the controlling switch. "Once any prisoner crosses the limit of 30 feet (from the detention area when not engaged in any task), the controlling switch with the guard emits a beeping sound, alerting him or her of any prospect of escape by the prisoner," the DIG had said.