Jaleswar Jail jam-packed with prisoners

The Jaleshwar district jail holds prisoners three times more than its capacity.

Located in Ward No. 1 of Jaleshwar Municipality, the Jail has the capacity to hold 200 prisoners.

However, the number of prisoners is the jail at present is 602. Among the 602 prisoners, 38 are foreigners (Indians) jailed for various offenses.

Spokesperson of the prison office, Rabin Chandra Thakur, said that various problems have surfaced in the prison due to excessive number of inmates.

The physical structure of the decades-old prison built in 1913 BS has also become dilapidated.

The prison suffers water leaks during the rains, extreme heat during summer and extreme cold during the winter making the stay of the prisoners difficult, said Jailer Chanardip Yadav.

There are only 24 rooms, 15 toilets, seven hand-held water pipes and six water taps inside the prison.

He complained that due to lack of room, many prisoners are forced to sleep out in the open, take turns to go to the toilet, stand in queue to take a bath and eat under the open sky during the harsh winter.

Yadav said that the lives of the prisoners have been affected by cold and viral fever. Twenty of 20 seriously ill prisoners with various health problems are forced to eat, live and sleep together with other inmates in the prison due to lack of space.

Sources at the jail say that the Department of Urban Development and Building had submitted a report stating that Jaleshwar Jail is unfit to house prisoners.