KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 9

The federal government has drafted the Open Prison Operation Regulation in a bid to pave the way for implementation of the concept of open prison in the country.

A half-yearly report card published by the Ministry of Home Affairs mentioned that a draft of the regulation was prepared and would be finalised after holding discussions with other government stakeholders. The Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act, 2017 stipulates a provision for allowing inmates, who have served at least two-thirds of their sentence, to be sent to an open prison.

A district judge may, on the recommendation of the jailer, send any prisoner, who has served at least two-thirds of jail sentence and has demonstrated good conduct, to open prison.

The existing law has defined open prison as any place except regular prisons specified by the government to hold prisoners in such a manner that he/she is allowed to go outside the place where he/she is detained and do certain work for a certain period with minimum supervision under the prescribed terms and conditions.

The period of work is deducted from the duration of the jail term. If a prisoner enjoying facilities of open prison fails to comply with the terms and conditions prescribed by the government or commits any offence during the period, he/she shall be sent back to the prison to serve the remaining sentence or be slapped a fresh sentence.

According to the MoHA, the construction of open prison in Ganapur of Banke is in the final phase. The government had acquired around 535 ropani land for construction of the open prison with the capacity to hold 3,000 inmates. Open prison helps engage jailbirds in community service by releasing them on parole and providing them with employment opportunity.

The country has 74 prisons in 72 of 77 districts. Bhaktapur, Bara and Dhanusha districts do not have any prison, while Kathmandu and Dang have two prisons each. Prisons across the country with a total capacity of 16,000 persons are crammed with more than 24,000 jailbirds, as per the Department of Prison Management.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.