A central level jail was built in Nuwakot in 10 years

During the time of the then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, 10 years ago, the Council of Ministers meeting had decided to build a central prison in Vidur to accommodate about 7,000 prisoners in order to reduce the number of prisoners in the valley prisons. According to the master plan, the work started from the year 2071/72 with the goal of building a prison with facilities at a cost of 7 billion.

The government had arranged 620 ropani land for the prison. The first and second phase of the prison was built at a cost of 2 billion rupees and the prison was inaugurated by Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar on Saturday. According to the prison management department, there are 3 men's blocks and one women's block and one block each for police and armed forces. 4 structures of female and male blocks have the capacity to house 1 thousand 370 prisoners.

In the same structure, a total of 300 prisoners, including 150 in the Nuwakot District Jail and 150 transferred from Kathmandu, have been housed in the new structure. The director general of the department, Jayaraj Acharya, said that they are preparing to transfer 500 more prisoners from the three prisons in the valley to Nuwakot within August.

Those who have been sent to pre-trial detention before the end of the case from the court and those who are in jail after not paying the bail, those who have served 50% of the sentence and those who have been sentenced to short term imprisonment will not be sent to Nuwakot jail. The Prison Management Department said that prisoners of this nature were not sent to Nuwakot Prison because they had to be transported to the court where the case was pending.

Out of the 10 tasks determined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the operation of the prison in Nuwakot is one of the tasks to be done in 100 days. We will develop it as an industrial prison,'' the Home Minister said, "There is plenty of land here, by using it, the prison will be expanded and the inmates will be taught various skills to produce various goods within the prison premises." He said that the economic activity of this area will also increase due to

prisoners. Prisoners and security personnel living here buy food and clothes from this place. This will lead to economic development here," he said. He said that a modern, well-equipped and large prison has been built because the prisoners living in the prison also have human rights. He also promised that the government will allocate a proper budget to complete the remaining construction work.

Although the Council of Ministers of Chait 20, 2070 adopted the policy of constructing a prison with a capacity of 7,000 in Vidur within the year 2077/78, the work could not be completed within the stipulated time due to the failure of the government to allocate the necessary budget and the delay of the contractor. Because of this, in the 10 years since the construction of the prison started, only the first and second phase structures have been built. According to Acharya, director general of

department, apart from the ones in the district jail, Nuwakot, 150 prisoners who have been sentenced to various prisons in the valley have been transferred in the first phase and the remaining 500 are ready to be transferred by the end of August. In addition, he informed that the goal is to transfer around 500 more prisoners from the prisons around the valley where the physical infrastructure is dilapidated and there are more than capacity prisoners.

Currently, there are at least 28,600 prisoners in 75 prisons across the country. There are at least 11 thousand 100 people who have not reached the end of the case and could not pay the bail, and 1 thousand 330 are foreign nationals. The department has stated that the number of prisoners over 65 years of age is 624. One-third of the country's prisoners live in three prisons within the valley.

According to the department, more than 40 percent of the prisoners across the country are forced to live on the couch due to lack of infrastructure. The central jail at Sundhara has a capacity of about 1,600. However, more than 3,800 people are kept here. About 700 prisoners are kept in Dillibazar Jail. While its capacity is only 300, Director General Acharya informed. Although the capacity of Nakhkhu prison is around 700, 1,700 people are kept.

The number of people who have been convicted of various crimes, who have not reached the end of the case and whose parents are in prison and who are dependent in the juvenile correctional home is at least 1,300. Even the correctional facilities do not have the required structures. According to the department, there is a compulsion to keep more than the capacity in various prisons due to lack of physical structures to handle the pressure of prisoners.

The government has been criticized for not being sensitive to adopting strategies such as facilitating the prisoners' reintegration into the society after they leave the prison, not just health, education, physical infrastructure, drinking water and other basic needs. On December 17, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly announced 122 rules for prisoners, including the right to health, education, employment within prisons, and physical exercise, including arrest and non-pressure/influence investigation.

Nepal is a party to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners announced under the name 'Nelson Mandela Rules' with 122 points. It is binding on the signatory nations to abide by it. However, the government has not been able to adequately build the housing structure for the prisoners. Acharya, director general of the

department, said that according to the declaration on prisoners, initiatives are being taken to quickly complete the prisons under construction across the country.

He said that apart from the structures built in the first and second phase in Nuwakot, other big structures including hospitals, schools, playgrounds are yet to be built and he has requested the relevant agencies to proceed with the construction work by ensuring the budget as soon as possible. A few years ago, the National Human Rights Commission concluded that the government did not pay attention to the minimum needs of prisoners and the issues of human rights while monitoring prisons across the country.

As the physical structure of the prison is not completed on time, there is a compulsion to keep more than the capacity in a narrow structure. Apart from Vidur, the government has completed the first and second phase of work in Naubasta of Banke and has started the work of prison administration from there as well. Due to lack of budget assurance for the third phase, the rest of the work in Naubasta has not progressed. The construction of the prison in Morang has reached its final stage, while in Panchthar only 37 percent has been completed. The construction of prisons is slow in Humla, Mugu, Bajhang, Jajarkot, Surkhet and other districts.