Call For Prison Reform

The term ‘prison’ is not an amusing word, for it evokes a terrible feeling in the minds of people, as confinement is meant for punishing criminals for their crimes. As the prison restricts the freedom of movement in the open, people detest the idea of imprisonment. Nonetheless, the wrongdoers are put behind bars for public safety under the criminal justice system. The primary objective of jails is to penalise and correct criminals, which deters the possibility of the occurrence of crimes in the future.  In modern civilised society, jails serve as a rehabilitation centre so that the prisoners improve their behaviour and become responsible citizens after their release. Here is a worthy remark of a British politician, David Lidington, concerning the staying of inmates. He says, “Prisons are out of public sight, and most often out of mind. But the vast majority of prisoners will at some point leave jail and rejoin our communities, which is why what happens inside matters to us all.”

Lidington means to say that prisoners should be treated humanely so that they will easily adapt to society after their completion of the prison term. The community accepts former offenders if they change themselves and keep their noses clean. So, banging criminals up is not intended to dehumanise them but to re-educate them, with the right to live decently and safely. The notion of the rehabilitation of prisoners is getting popular across the world, and governments are obliged to carry out penal reforms accordingly. Converting jails into correction centres requires installing basic facilities inside the prison buildings. However, Nepal’s prisons have become a nightmare with overcrowding and poor living conditions.  Currently, there are around 28,698 inmates in 75 prisons across the country's 77 districts. One-third of the total jailbirds are compelled to languish in the three prisons of the Kathmandu 

Valley alone. 

A recent news report published in this daily reveals that the prisons throughout the country are reeling from severe operational difficulties due to overcrowding, decrepit infrastructure, and an acute shortage of essential facilities. It has highlighted the pathetic situation of prisons in Gulmi and Bardiya districts. In Gulmi, the local jail has a capacity to accommodate only 25 inmates but is currently housing 108. The situation is no different in Bardiya jail, constructed in 1977. It can hold only 150 male and 25 female prisoners, but now 424 inmates are housed here. The overcrowding sometimes results in fatal brawls, like in Kailali last week, when one inmate died.   To entertain and improve their habits, Gulmi jail has initiated activities such as sports, vocational training and rehabilitation programmes, but due to the inadequate space and shabby physical infrastructures, the prison authorities have found it difficult to smoothly implement them. 

Bardiya jail's rickety building’s roofs leak while its walls have developed cracks, requiring an urgent repair. Worse, the overcrowded Bardiya jail has to shelter additional prisoners from other districts. Early in August, the Bardiya jail witnessed clashes between the inmates. The violent skirmishes erupted after inmates transferred from Kailali refused to abide by internal rules. This particular case not only exposed the lawlessness inside the prison but also the starkly insufficient physical services. Mark Twain rightly says it is better to support schools than jails but without enabling material facilities, it is next to impossible to bring about mental transformation among the inmates. So the state should create necessary conditions to ensure that prisoners live a life of dignity and easily integrate into society upon their release.