New jail planned in US Nagar to reduce other prisons’ load

A jail with a capacity of 2,000 prisoners will be built in Udham Singh Nagar district’s Kichha to reduce burden on other prisons, a top police officer said on Saturday.

The new jail, for which the formalities are being completed, would help in decongesting jails, said PVK Prasad, the inspector general of prisons.

The Supreme Court on Friday said prisoners too have a right to live with dignity and has called for jail reforms. The apex court also said prisoners cannot be kept like animals.

Following the ruling, the state prisons department said there was not much problem in the jails of Uttarakhand and whatever congestion exists was being removed by shifting prisoners to other jails and building of new ones.

“Here are 4,800 inmates in the jails of Uttarakhand out of which 50% are under trials and move in and out of jails. There had been overburdening of jails such as the Haldwani jail from where 200 inmates have been shifted to the Sitarganj jail,” IG prisons Prasad said.

He said new jails were being built at Pithoragarh and land acquisition related issues of the proposed Champawat jail were being solved so that it could be built on time.

Dushyant Mainali, a social activist in Haldwani, said the prison department needs to usher in reforms of the jails.

Ordinary inmates face a lot of problems on day to day basis due to corruption and lack of funds and the government must look into this.

“Prisoners who have clout or money power are having a good time in jails while those from poor background are at the receiving end. Reforms need to be brought in at the earliest,” he said.