Inmates at a prison in southern India are eating so well that many are reluctant to leave, while other convicted criminals are trying to move in, a newspaper said Thursday.

ISKCON, commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement, started serving prasadam—pure vegetarian sanctified fare— in the jail on May 21 under contract from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bangalore.

The demolition of the homes began simultaneously in different areas of the summer colony. While the earth excavators were demolishing houses in one part of the village, workers destroyed the houses with sledgehammers and crowbars in another part. The earth excavators completed the work by leveling the houses to the ground.

Karasai district officials brought busloads of laborers and police officers with them, indiscriminately taking crowbars and sledgehammers to the homes. They threw personal possessions out into the street, even as the horrified devotees pleaded with them and begged for mercy. Mechanical diggers then moved in, literally “crushing the houses to dust.”

His Holiness BB Govinda Swami and Anuttama Dasa are in Washington, DC this week to raise awareness about the crisis in Kazakhstan, meeting with high-ranking US officials and human rights advocates. Govinda Swami is also collecting funds for the newly displaced devotees.

The Sri Jagannath temple in Puri, India, has seen an increase in revenue over the past two years due to recent administrative reforms, but the temple also intends to dispose of tens of thousands of acres of land that is currently in unauthorized use by others.