Parole should reduce prison overcrowding and help cut down on their maintenance
In a welcome move, the government has decided to introduce the provision of parole as provisioned in the Criminal Offences (Sentencing and Execution) Act from October 18. The Cabinet took the decision on Tuesday. Parole is supposed to provide supervised transition so that prisoners can adjust back into the community from prison life rather than returning straight to the community at the end of their sentence.
According to the provision, an offender who has served two-thirds of the prison sentence of more than a year and has shown good conduct can be placed on parole. Parole, however, must be understood as a privilege and not a right, so it does not apply to all prisoners. Offenders who have been sentenced to life imprisonment or convicted of corruption, rape, human trafficking, organised crime or money laundering shall not be released on parole.
Similarly, those serving prison sentences for torture, inhuman treatment, and crime against humanity or the state are barred from enjoying the privilege. However, those convicted of offences related to narcotic drugs will benefit from the parole provision.
While the provision of parole must be welcomed, questions are already being raised about its effectiveness.
And not without reason. What if the parole provision is misused to benefit only those with political links and money? In recent times, the President and the government have drawn flak for pardoning even prisoners serving life sentences for committing serious crimes. Just this week, Yograj Dhakal, alias Rigal, was released from prison following the pardon granted by the government on the occasion of Constitution Day on September 20 even though he was sentencedto life imprisonment for the murder of Chetan Manandhar in July 2015. The widow, who has started a hunger strike against the government decision to pardon Dhakal, has filed a writ at the Supreme Court.
Earlier on Republic Day in May, the government took another wrong decision to release former lawmaker Resham Chaudhary, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the Tikapur carnage that saw seven police officers and a two-year-old child killed.
But still, let us give parole provision the benefit of the doubt. Actually, such a provision should encourage prisoners to stay out of trouble while serving their prison term. And after release, the restrictions imposed on parolees should instill good behaviour in them. According to the spokesman of the Department of Prison Management, 1,600 prisoners are eligible for release on parole. It is a fact that Nepal's prisons are overcrowded. The 74 prisons spread across the country house 27,950 prisoners although they can accommodate not more than 16,000 prisoners.
Parole should reduce such prison overcrowding and help the government cut down on the high cost of maintaining a large number of prisoners. On the other hand, supervised life of the prisoners on parole, who are unlikely to harm others, will keep the society at large safe. To make parole a success, the government has the onus to appoint parole officers without delay. It must also introduce open jail, community service, reform homes and rehabilitation centres as provisioned in the Criminal Offences Act.
Provide relief pronto
The Sudurpaschim provincial government has decided to provide relief assistance to those families who were injured and whose houses were damaged in the earthquake that struck Bajhang on Tuesday. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the mountainous district, leaving one person dead and destroying many stone-walled houses. The district administration has yet to collect details of the damage caused by the tremor, which was followed by many aftershocks, forcing the people to leave their homes. The far-western region has experienced many small-scale tremors, and Tuesday's quake was the biggest since 2015.
As many houses have been destroyed, the central and provincial government must come out with a reconstruction and rehabilitation plan so that the affected families could rebuild their damaged houses without delay. After Dashain and Tihar, the people of the remote mountain district will experience bone-chilling winter, which will make it very difficult for them to survive the cold unless they can rebuild their houses. Therefore, the central government must devise a plan for the reconstruction of their damaged houses just like after the 2015 earthquake. The government should provide soft loans to those whose houses were destroyed.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
