KATHMANDU: All the inmates of Jagannath Deval Central Jail, the oldest jail in the country, have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Jailor Bed Nidhi Adhikari informed that all the inmates of the prison, which was established in 1971 BS, have been vaccinated. He said that new inmates will be vaccinated separately.
There are three jails in the central jail with 3,215 inmates. At present, there are 1,822 inmates in the jail, 1,038 in the Bhadra cell and 355 in the women’s cell. There are even 16 minors in the jail. In the first phase, eight people died due to COVID-19 infection in the central jail, but no one lost their lives in the second wave of coronavirus, said Adhikari.
As there is another jail in Dilli Bazaar of Kathmandu, women prisoners are being kept only in the central jail. A hospital is also operating inside the central prison premises for the treatment of inmates.
The hospital has a total capacity of 30 beds and is treating skin, diabetes, jaundice, respiratory problems, lung problems, knee pain and sunburn. The Central Jail, spread over an area of 42 ropanis.
According to the Department of Prison Management, there are 74 prisons in 72 districts across the country. There are two prisons each in Kathmandu and Dang. There are no prisons in Bhaktapur, Bara, Dhanusha, East Nawalparasi and East Rukum districts. At present, there are male inmates in all 74 prisons across the country while there are only female inmates in 53 prisons. Similarly, child correctional centers are also in operation in Bhaktapur, Kaski, Biratnagar, Makwanpur, Parsa, Rupandehi, Banke and Doti.
Currently, there are about 30,000 prisoners in the country. The capacity of prisons across the country is only 16,000. With the recent increase in the number of inmates across the country, the government is busy building prisons in Nuwakot and Banke. The construction of the prison with a capacity of 10,000 inmates has been started with 535 ropanis in Nuwakot and 10 bighas in Banke. The prison management department has stated that 7,500 inmates can be kept in Nuwakot and 3,000 in Banke.
The government has even started homework to move the inmates of the Central Prison to the prison under construction in Nuwakot within three months. A jail official at the Central Prison said that the Ministry of Home Affairs, Prison Management Department, Chief District Officer Nuwakot and security agencies have returned to Kathmandu after studying and observing the construction of the building to transfer the inmates to Nuwakot within three months.
He said that instructions have been given to complete the construction of the prison building as soon as possible. The government aims to turn the Central Prison inmates into a museum after relocating them to Nuwakot.
