Central Jail grappling without space

Central Jail, the oldest prison in the country, at Jagannathdewal in Kathmandu is struggling without enough space. So much so, it is forced to house more than double the prisoners than its actual capacity.

At present, it houses 3,448 jailbirds against its capacity of 1,500, according to the prison administrator Ishwori Prasad Pandey.

Established in 1915 AD in 43 ropani of land, there are three separate blocks for female and male prisoners and hard-core criminals. The total jailbirds in the prison include 14 juveniles and 258 foreign nationals.

The pressure on inmates in the prison was higher as many criminal activities took place in Kathmandu, the federal capital of the country, said Pandey.

Some new structures added since its establishment in 1915 AD were not enough for the increasing pressure of jailbirds, he added.

For the security of the central prison, Dillibazaar prison, and Nakkhu prison, a total of 376 police personnel under the leadership of the Deputy Superintendent of Police have been mobilized.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kumar Bikram Thapa, who has the responsibility of looking after the security of three prisons including the central jail said with the fixation of CCTVs, they feel more convenient for security management.

At the moment, 250 security people have been mobilized at the central jail followed by 126 in the remaining two.

The Dillibazar jail has 634 inmates and detainees while this number is 1,397 in the Nakkhu jail.  

Similarly, the central jail has ensured the medical facility for the dwellers. The jail has a 30-bed facility assisted by six medical specialists. It provides care for skin problems, diabetes, respiratory, lung and cellulitis, and so on.

Bearing in mind the increasing congestion issue in the central jail, the government on April 3, 2014, decided to shift the central jail to Nuwakot. As per the decision, the construction works going on in Nuwakot. It has the capacity to accommodate 7,000 people while the under-construction regional jail at Jhumka of Banke has the capacity to accommodate 3,000.

As said by the Department of Prison Management, presently there are 74 jails in 72 districts across the country. Kathmandu and Dang each have two jails while Bhaktapur, Bara, Dhanusha, East Nawalparasi, and East Rukum have no prisons. The nationwide number of inmates and detainees stands at around 25,000.