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Management problem has arisen in the district jail, Kanchanpur, as there are five times more prisoners than the capacity.

The district jail, which has a capacity of 95 people including 20 women, currently houses 436 prisoners, which has resulted in the suffering of prisoners.

The watchman of District Jail, Kanchanpur, Prakash Malla, complained that prisoners have to wait for their turn to go to the toilet because of the prison overcrowding. 

He said – ‘There are 436 prisoners. However, only 12 toilets for men and two for women have been arranged. Prisoners have to wait for hours to just go to the toilet’.

Jail chief Sanjay Thapa complained that the inmates were deprived of essential services such as sleeping, eating, washing clothes, bathing, going to the toilet, and drinking water due to the excessive number of inmates.

He said – ‘It is not even possible to sit in the room. There is a situation where you have to wait for your turn to sleep. Mosquito prevalence is the same. There is a lot of garbage. Health and safety standards are not being followed inside the prison. There is even an obligation to stay at risk of life.

Prisoner Tekraj Joshi complained that the inmates have to suffer because the government did not pay attention to prison reform.

He said – ‘They don’t get to eat on time. There is a compulsion to wait for hours while eating, sleeping, and going to the toilet. Due to the dilapidated condition of the prison, it gets worse during the rainy season. There is a situation where they have to live in tents even inside the prison premises. Although there is sports equipment inside the prison, there is no place to play. There are no entertainment facilities or books. Let the relevant authorities pay attention to this.’

Senior Assistant Health Worker,  Bhandev Joshi said that the government has defined the prison as a reform house, but due to the lack of programs and management, the inmates are forced to live a hellish life.

According to prisoner Bhagwati Choudhary, there are not even the minimum facilities required for prisoners. As they were not able to eat on time, they had to order food from home.

Chief of District Jail, Kanchapur, Maya Basnet, said that the capacity of the jail is only 95 including 20 women, but currently, there is a problem in the management of keeping 436 prisoners.

She said – ‘Due to the lack of living quarters in the prison, we have been keeping 15 to 20 prisoners together in a small room and 40 to 50 prisoners in a large room. Prisoners have problems sitting and sleeping. Correspondence has been sent to the concerned authorities for the construction of the prison building.’

29 inmates of District Jail, Kanchanpur were able to vote in the House of Representatives and State Assembly elections held on November 4.

 

Lili Kunwar