KATHMANDU, AUGUST 21
The Department of Prison Management has drafted and submitted the Open Prison Operation Regulation to the Ministry of Home Affairs for its approval to implement the provision of open prison in the country.
In September 2020, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to prepare regulation, conditions and procedures regarding the implementation of open prison, community service, and social integration of prisoners.
According to a three-monthly report card published by the DoPM, a draft of the regulation was prepared after holding discussion with other government stakeholders. It was then submitted to the MoHA for approval. The Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act, 2017, stipulates a provision allowing prisoners, who have served at least two-thirds of the 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 jail sentence and demonstrated good conduct, to the 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 minimal supervision under the prescribed terms and conditions. The period of work is deducted from the sentence.
If a prisoner enjoying facilities of open prison violates 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 DoPM, construction of open prison in Ganapur of Banke is in the final phase. The government had acquired around 535 ropani land for construction of open prison with capacity to accommodate 3,000 inmates.
Open prison is tasked with the responsibility of engaging jailbirds in community service, releasing them on parole and providing them with employment opportunity.
The country has 74 prisons in 72 of 77 districts. Bhaktapur, Bara and Dhanusha do not have any prison while Kathmandu and Dang have two prisons each. The prisons across the country with capacity to accommodate 16,000 persons are crammed with over 24,000 jailbirds, according to the DoPM.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 22, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
