Banke Prison Overcrowded, Exceeding Capacity with 889 Inmates, Joint Monitoring Finds

Nepalgunj. The Banke Prison is holding more inmates than its capacity. A joint monitoring conducted by the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) and Advocacy Forum found that the prison, which has a capacity to hold 700 inmates, is currently housing 889 inmates and detainees.

Inmates at the prison reported facing problems due to having to share rooms with 12 to 40 people, waiting in line to use the toilets, and lacking systematic facilities for health services and education.

Advocate Basanta Gautam, Regional Coordinator of Advocacy Forum Nepal, stated that the overcrowding of inmates beyond capacity in the prison is a serious human rights violation, emphasizing that relevant bodies must immediately take steps to ensure basic health services, sanitation, toilet facilities, judicial processes, and education.

The team also monitored the lockup cell of the Banke District Police Office. Advocacy Forum Coordinator Gautam informed that there are currently 61 detainees in that lockup, and some detainees were found to be under investigation without their remand being extended.

The monitoring team stressed the need for a detailed study of the challenges observed in the basic human rights, health, sanitation, and judicial processes of the inmates in the prison. The team also noted that basic human rights, prison management, and the daily livelihood of the inmates are lacking. INSEC Program Officer Teknath Acharya urged to ensure the basic human rights, health services, and quality of food for the detainees.

Currently, there are 691 inmates in the Naubasta Prison. According to Coordinator Gautam, the monitoring team concluded that relevant bodies must immediately take initiative to increase the housing capacity for inmates, manage overcrowding, improve access to health insurance, enhance judicial information flow and education, and make arrangements for religious practices more effective.