The increase in the number has not only forced authorities to keep almost four times more prisoners than the actual capacity of the dilapidated prison houses, but also created a shortage of funds to provide daily allowance to the inmates.
Until a year ago, the total number of inmates did not exceed 6,500. That number is, however, steadily rising over the past few months and it has already crossed the 9,000 mark. "We are facing difficulties to accommodating prisoners, as their number is on the rise for the past few months," said Yam Kumari Khatiwada (Baskota), director general of the Department of Prison Management (DoPM).
Officials at DoPM said Rs 174 million was provided in daily allowance to inmates last year. This year, however, the DoPM spent the Rs 214 million budget allocated by the government two months ago, four months before the end of the fiscal. Each prisoner gets Rs 45 allowance and 700-gram rice a day.
"We have sent a proposal to the Finance Ministry for additional budget," said Gayatri Raman Khanal, account officer at the DoPM. "We are facing hard times as there has been procedural delay to release the budget."
Officials at DoPM said the number of inmates in 73 prisons across the country was 8,639 by mid-December, 2008. The number rose to 8,838 by mid-February. The number is well above 9,400 at present, said Khanal.
Officials attribute the rise to increased police presence in far-flung villages ahead of the Constituent Assembly election last year and the new legislation introduced against illegal possession of arms.
Of the total 1,979 police units across the country, Maoist conflict had displaced 1,271 posts, confining police to mostly district headquarters and urban areas. Majority of these police posts have been reinstated now, making it difficult for criminals to hide in rural areas, unlike during the conflict period.
Of the 73 prisons, including prison hospitals across the country, 14 were destroyed during the decade-long Maoist conflict. Three of these prisons are yet to come into operation. Worse, almost all these prison buildings are 100 to 150 years old, and have poor physical infrastructure to accommodate the increasing number of prisoners.
Officials said the rise in the number of inmates was due to new legal provision introduced to govern illegal arms possession and to control rising criminal activities.
An amendment to the existing Arms and Ammunition Act 2019 was introduced last year including a provision of six-month to seven-year jail term for those found guilty of possessing illegal arms, and a fine of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. Previously, such persons could get bail while the new provision allows police to keep the accused in judicial custody.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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