Five years after the Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act-2017 came into force, the Ministry of Home Affairs has now drafted the Open Prison Operation Regulation with a view to implementing the concept of an open prison in the country.

The concept of an open prison is in practice in many developed countries, where jailbirds who have already completed two-thirds of their sentence and have shown good conduct in a regular prison are allowed to spend the remaining time in an open prison with work opportunity. In its half-yearly report, the Home Ministry has stated that the draft regulation would be finalized by holding extensive consultations with other government stakeholders. As per the preliminary draft regulation, those inmates who have served at least two-thirds of the sentences and have shown good conduct in jail would be sent to an open prison, for which the government has already acquired 535 ropanis of land in Banke's Ganapur with a capacity to hold as many as 3,000 inmates. The draft regulation has proposed that a district judge may, on the recommendation of the concerned jailer, send any prisoner, who has served at least two-thirds of the jail sentence, to the open prison.

As per the existing law, an open prison is a place where prisoners are held in a manner where s/he is allowed to go outside the place of detention 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. In case the prisoner fails to comply with the prescribed terms and conditions or commits any offence during the period, s/he shall be sent back to a regular jail to serve the remaining sentence or be slapped a fresh sentence. The concept of an open prison was introduced to minimise crowds in the regular prisons, where there are more than 24,000 jailbirds, 33 per cent more than their carrying capacity.

The country has 74 prisons across the country.

The luxury of spending time in an open prison should be allowed only to those jailbirds who have committed minor crimes as defined by the laws of the land. The concerned government stakeholders must carefully deliberate the pros and cons of the regulation before it is endorsed for its full implementation.

There is high possibility of misusing the regulation by influential people, including politicians in power and high-ranking bureaucrats, who might coerce the jailers to recommend a jailbird to be sent to the open prison despite his/her involvement in heinous crime(s). Those people who have been convicted by the final court of law of heinous crimes, which, among others, include rape, murder in a gruesome manner, arson, bank robbery, human and drug trafficking, enforced disappearance of persons and hostage taking for ransom, should not be allowed to spend time in the open prison. The government stakeholders must take these issues into serious account while finalising the regulation. As our legal system and the judiciary are not up to the international standard, the concept of an open prison might pose a serious threat to law and order if it is not handled well as per the letter and spirit of the Act.

Illegal structures

It's typical of the Nepalis to encroach public property wherever they can, mostly roadsides, to build illegal structures, such as huts and shops. And once encroached, it is very difficult to shoo away these encroachers, largely due to political protection. Because the footpaths or roadsides are occupied, the pedestrians are forced to walk on the streets, which narrows the available space for running vehicles. It takes great political resolve on the part of the municipalities to demolish such structures, especially when the local level elections are just round the corner. But Kathmandu Metropolitan City has shown such political will in the past and so have a few other municipalities across the country.

Now Tanahun's Byas Municipality has started demolishing illegal structures built by encroaching the roadside of the municipality in 14 wards. Vegetable stalls, huts and school compound walls are being pulled down after repeated calls on the people to dismantle them went unheard. But old habits die hard, and it is only a matter of time before such illegal structures sprout again. Hence, the municipality should constantly monitor its roads and, perhaps, designate certain open spaces from where vendors can carry out their business.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.