“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
― Nelson Mandela
Prisons in Nepal do not house only criminals. They include children of prisoners, political inmates, women who have undergone abortions, and countless inmates who have not received any sentence.
Most prisons in Nepal are overcrowded and the conditions of detention are extremely poor. According to records of the Prison Infrastructure Management Improvement Task Force, Nepal jails house a total of 12,036 inmates but only have a capacity of 6,416. Confined in an unhealthy living environment, the prisoners have inadequate access to holistic health services, including psycho-social services. During mobile health clinics in seven prisons of Nepal it was found that 83 % of the prisoners suffer from psychological as well as physical health issues. The inmates most commonly suffered from anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, fungal infections and other communicable diseases. The inmates’ legal rights are routinely denied. Legal or paralegal services are not made available to the prisoners.
While serving time inmates tend to be criminalized due to the influence of hard core criminals and lack of space and interventions.
All these factors hamper the rehabilitation process of the prisoners. After release, former inmates’ lives are dominated by stigma, a lack of skills and opportunities, and the absence of a support system.
As a result, many former prisoners fall back into crime after their release. This is a serious concern for society.
Nepal’s Prison Act was formulated half a century ago, followed by many amendments. However, none of the provisions in the act have been implemented and many need further amendments.
Recently the Prison Infrastructure Management Improvement Task Force studied the country’s prisons and issued a list of 36 recommendations. These include the transformation of jails into reform houses through the establishment of an open prison system. A 50% reduction in inmates is proposed through speeding up court hearings. The government has shown an interest in implementing the recommendations.
Taking all these factors into consideration, innovative initiatives such as ISC JhyalKhana have much potential to support the transformation of Nepal’s prisons.
Inmate Service Centre Jhyalkhana 