UDAYAPUR, April 8: Udayapur prison, which was constructed almost four decades ago for accomodating 50 inmates, currently squeezes in 123.
The prison was shaken by the big earthquakes of 1989 and 2015 and is now in pathetic shape . It is also a big challenge for the jail keepers to accomodate the nine female inmates. The inmates are all crammed inside their cells and the prison itself can crumble any time. This is a risk they have been living with every day.
Mukunda Dhakal, the prison chief, expressed his concern over the miserable conditions of the inmates. He informed that there is also no separate cell for the female inmates. They have to put them in the kitchen and in the prison office room.
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The prison is a mud strcture and has developed cracks in several places. " It's not like the jail administration has not urged the central department to put up a new jail building," Dhakal said
"It is like playing with their lives," said Dhakal, adding that the prision grounds extend over 1 bigha and 12 kattha of land. So there is no shortage of land for a new strucutre. The existing structure covers 1 kattha only and the remaining land is vacant.
The prison has no proper rooms for toilet, kitchen or go-down. Life for the nmates is hell, especially in summer. As summer has arrived again, they have started wondering how they are going survive the congestion . According to guard Manoj Rai, the inmates also come down with various kinds of illnesses during summer. Diseases and infections take no time to spread in such congestion.
