Valley's 14,00 inmates being shifted to Nuwakot open jail

Kathmandu, Sept. 10: With the completion of the second phase construction of an open jail or central-level prison in Nuwakot, the government has begun the process to relocate hundreds, if not thousands, of inmates of the Valley in Nuwakot.

Currently, there are 28,698 total inmates in 75 prisons across 72 of the 77 districts in the country. However, one-third of the total number of inmates are forced to live in overcrowded conditions in the three prisons of the Kathmandu Valley alone. 

Except for Bhaktapur district, there are two prisons in Kathmandu and one in Lalitpur. These three prisons have been housing altogether 5,882 inmates. 

Of the three prisons, there is one central jail in Sundhara known as Jagannath Dewal and another is Dillibazaar Jail in Kathmandu. And another one is in Lalitpur district known as Nakkhu Jail. 

The Central Jail at Jagannath Dewal is currently housing 3,628 inmates and of them, 2,014 are prisoners (kaidi) and 1,614 are pretrial detainees (bandi).

Similalry, there are a total of 705 inmates in Dillibazaar Jail and 1,544 prisoners in Nakkhu Jail. 

Considering the situation, the Department of Prison Management is preparing to transfer the inmates from the Kathmandu Valley to the country’s first open prison in Khampa Camp of Bidur Municipality-6 in Nuwakot. So far, the second phase of the open jail has been completed there, and inmates of the Valley will soon be relocated, said Kamal Prasad Pandey, Director and Spokesperson for the Prison Management.

This is being done to decrease the overcrowded situation of the prisons of the Valley, he said.  

"A central-level prison is being constructed at Khampa Camp of Bidur Municipality-6, and the second phase of construction has been completed 10 years after the decision by the Council of Ministers," said Pandey. 

In the first phase, fencing was completed, and in the second phase, 13 blocks have been constructed. Buildings, including an administrative block, two buildings for Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, and five prison blocks, have been built at a cost of Rs. 554.562 million, he said. 

The completed blocks can accommodate 1,370 inmates. 

On August 31, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak relocated 147 inmates from Nuwakot Prison to Khampa Camp's central-level prison and inaugurated the prison's service.

With the completion of the first and second phases of construction of the central prison or open prison, inmates from Jagannath Dewal, Dillibazaar, and Nakkhu prison in Lalitpur will be transferred there gradually, he said. 

According to Pandey, inmates from these three prisons in the Kathmandu Valley have been asked to prepare a list if they wish to be transferred there. He said, "We are relocating only the prisoners who have been fully convicted upon the court's verdict from the Valley to Nuwakot. We will not take the detainees whose full verdict is yet to come to Nuwakot," he said.  

Prisoners who are in pretrial detention or unable to post bail will not be sent to Nuwakot's Open Jail. Pandey said that prisoners who have served 50 per cent of their sentences or those with short sentences will also not be sent to Nuwakot.

The DoPM plans to transfer around 1,200 prisoners to Nuwakot, said Pandey, adding, "We will keep relocating them gradually, but there is no fixed timeline for completing the relocation."

The contract for the second phase of construction was awarded to Lama-Raman Joint Venture. The construction company signed the agreement in October 2016 and completed the buildings in about eight years.

According to Pandey, there is a master plan of the federal government to complete the prison in five phases to give it recognition as an open jail of the country. 

Senior Divisional Engineer Meera Gyawali, working in the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, mentioned that there are various blocks within the five prison blocks.

According to Gyawali, separate structures have been built for dining, prisoner housing, workshops, and visitor rooms. In the prison block, five separate visitor blocks have been constructed. The current completed structure includes 10 security posts.

When the master plan is completed, a hospital will also be constructed within the prison. 

"The master plan for this open prison is to be completed in a total of five phases. Although the target is to complete the construction at a cost of around Rs. 8 billion, the work for the third phase has not yet started," said Gyawali. The master plan mentions building a prison on 645 ropanis of land that can accommodate 7,000 prisoners. Of these, 5,600 will be male prisoners and 1,400 will be female prisoners.

She said that the work on the third phase has not progressed due to the lack of a secured budget source. 

According to the master plan, around Rs. 5 billion is needed to start the third phase. 

The Department for Urban Development and Building Construction is responsible for bidding the tender for the building. 

Recently, apart from Nuwakot, a regional prison has been built in Naubasta, Banke. Former Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane inaugurated this prison. 

The Naubasta prison, with a capacity of 1,000 prisoners, is now operational, according to Pandey.

The Sarlahi prison, with a capacity for 250 prisoners, is also operational. He also said that prisons are also under construction in Morang and Mugu, among other locations.