Overcrowding Crisis Plagues Prisons Across Madhesh Province

Janakpurdham. Prisons in Madhesh Province are facing a severe management crisis due to extreme overcrowding. With nearly double the capacity of inmates housed in limited infrastructure, security, health, sanitation, and daily management have become critical challenges.

The Jaleshwar Prison in Mahottari has become a representative example of this problem. According to prison administration, the facility, which has a capacity of 200, currently houses 416 male and female inmates. The situation is further complicated by the old and dilapidated building, disorganized structures, and flooding during the monsoon season.

Although approximately 6 bighas of land are available in Jaleshwar Municipality-2, the failure to construct a new building has left inmates suffering. Since there is no separate prison in Dhanusha district, inmates from there are also sent to Jaleshwar. The pressure continues to mount as detainees are brought in from other districts as well.

Prison Chief Ashok Kumar Chhetri stated that the overcrowding poses significant challenges. He believes that if a new building is constructed on the prison's own land, it would create a better environment for the inmates, facilitating vocational training, libraries, and reformative programs.

He noted that taking advantage of the difficult situation in the country on Bhadra 24, 573 prisoners had escaped, and 252 remain at large. He mentioned that many returned voluntarily, while some were apprehended and brought back to prison.

There are seven prisons operating in Madhesh Province, including a juvenile reform home. Most of them house far more inmates than their capacity. Saptari has 358 inmates against a capacity of 154, Siraha has 414 against 150, Mahottari (Jaleshwar) has 416 against 200, Sarlahi has 373 against 200, Rautahat has 208 against 102, and Parsa has 1205 against 200.

Prison sources indicate that housing many inmates in limited space leads to a lack of sleeping areas, toilet problems, water shortages, the risk of infectious diseases, and an increase in internal clashes. Excessive overcrowding has also increased pressure on security personnel. It is difficult to control clashes, the risk of disease spread is high due to poor sanitation, and reformative activities cannot be conducted.

Stakeholders have stated that delays in case settlement, ineffective use of alternative sentencing, slow infrastructure expansion, and a lack of manpower have made the problem even more complex.

Ishwar Pasman of Jaleshwar Municipality-5, who previously served time in the same prison, says that during floods, there was no room to even stand, and inmates had to take turns sleeping. According to him, inmates in this old prison are forced to live cramped in cells. There is not enough space to operate libraries, vocational training, or employment-oriented programs.

It is reported that as no effective initiatives have been taken to solve this long-standing problem, prisons in Madhesh are becoming increasingly crisis-ridden.