“We had long felt the need for such cell for prisoners,” said Director General at Department of Prison Management (DoPM) Yam Kumari Khatiwada. “This time we have allocated budget for the construction of such a cell.” Khatiwada said that such a cell was being constructed on the premises of Nakhkhu Jail.
Officials at the Department of Prison Management (DoPM) said they had been compelled to keep prisoners suffering with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and Hepatitis in the same prison cell. The need for the construction of a separate cell for prisoners with communicable diseases was felt after several cases of swine flu were detected in recent months.
“Prisoners suffering from communicable diseases could spread it among other inmates. Hence, it was urgent that we built a separate cell for inmates with such diseases,” said Khatiwada.
According to Khatiwada, the DoPM is also constructing a separate cell for women prisoners on the premises of Nakhkhu jail. Currently, there is a separate cell for women only in the Central Jail. “Though the number of women prisoners is gradually on the rise there is no alternative to keeping them except in the Central Jail,” she said.
There are a total 74 prisons across the country. However, women prisoners are forced to share the same cell with males due to lack of separate cell for women in most of these penitentiaries.
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