Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year, the conditions in Kathmandu Central Jail – the largest and oldest prison in Nepal – were so bad that inmates frequently got sick. In 2019, the Office of the Attorney General said that prisoners in Nepal were living under “inhumane conditions,” emphasizing the urgent need to improve their living conditions to protect their dignity.
Kathmandu Central Jail is 105 years old and in a state of complete disrepair. The Department of Prison Management says that it has the capacity to hold 1,450 inmates, but the lack of infrastructural improvements over the past century means that living conditions are close to uninhabitable. The prison currently holds over 3,000 individuals. Inmates sleep under a tin roof on mattresses placed on the floor—there aren’t nearly enough beds to accommodate everyone—and there are no heating or cooling facilities. The open urinals and toilets are rarely cleaned, there is no running water, and there is very limited access to healthcare.
There are 24,073 prisoners, or close to 70% more than the total prison capacity of 16,000, in 71 prisons in Nepal. The lack of adequate social distancing measures and proper sanitation in these overcrowded facilities has made the risk of COVID-19 infection significantly higher.
The degrading conditions were made worse with the spread of COVID-19 in Nepal starting in late March. Four inmates in Kathmandu Central jail died from COVID-19 in early September, while 91 others tested positive for coronavirus. Testing of inmates has been sporadic and inadequate, so the actual numbers of infected inmates may be much higher.
Across the country, inmates living in dilapidated, overcrowded structures have no respite from the spread of the disease. There are 24,073 prisoners in 71 prisons across Nepal, almost 70% more than the total prison capacity of 16,000. As of early October, at least 753 inmates have been infected with the novel coronavirus in prisons across the country, eight of whom have died; 174 inmates have recovered. In the absence of adequate social distancing measures in the already overcrowded prisons, and the lack of proper sanitation measures, these facilities have become COVID-19 hotspots. Without an adequate response from the government, things could get much worse.
In the meantime, inmates fear for their lives. In an interview with the Nepali newspaper Naya Patrika, inmate Yuvaraj Giri, who is in a prison in Jhapa district, said: “Not all prisoners have the ability to buy and wear masks. The government hasn’t even given us soap. There is one sink for everyone to use, and hand sanitizers. I don’t think those in prison even know what that is. In a cramped space with 1,141 people, there’s no way social distancing is possible. I’m afraid for my life and have been unable to sleep because of how terrible the situation is.”
Visitors and relocations barred
On March 20 a directive sent out to jails across the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs barred inmates from having any contact with visitors and ordered all such facilities to be stocked with masks, soap, hand sanitizer, and other necessary supplies. The directive also disallowed the relocation of prisoners till further notice. A total of 228 children from juvenile centers were released in March, alongside 462 inmates who were either elderly or some months away from completing their sentences. But since then, releasing more inmates to address jail congestion has not been high on the government’s priority list.
According to prison director-general Drona Pokharel, releasing more inmates from jails is not possible under current laws. “We don’t have the authority to release more prisoners—we can only take preventative measures, which we are already doing, even though it is very challenging,” Pokharel said.
Debarsi Sapkota, the information officer for the Department of Prison Management, said that those convicted of serious crimes, which he specified as “rape, murder, and drug charges,” could not be released, but those with misdemeanor charges could get out on bail.
In late August 2020, lawmakers in the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives urged the government to release prisoners who had completed 50 percent of their terms. But as of early October, this motion has not passed.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in some prisons has skyrocketed. In a prison in Siraha, southern Nepal, 509 of 599 inmates tested positive for the virus in September. Babita Kumari Mahato, a jailer in the Siraha prison, said that infected inmates were getting treatment in Siraha hospital, and authorities were working towards better quarantine facility management.
Jailers in Banke, Saptari, and Kailali districts said over phone conversations with Asia Democracy Chronicles that budgets allocated for coronavirus response were being used to take preventive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. But the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which inspected 13 prisons where inmates had been infected, stated that the measures were far from adequate. In an interview with Naya Patrika, NHRC member Sudeep Pathak said that only five of the 13 prisons inspected had separate isolation centers for infected patients.
Considering that inmates had to take turns sleeping because of the lack of space in prisons even before the pandemic, the absence of separate isolation centers is not surprising. The prison in Morang district in eastern Nepal has a capacity of 300 inmates but currently houses 922. The prison in the Jhapa district has a capacity for 350 inmates but has a population of 1,141. The overcrowding has put not only inmates themselves in great danger, but prison staff and the community at large. Shrawan Pokharel, a jailer in Birgunj city in southern Nepal said that 33 inmates tested positive for the virus in August, as did he, his wife, and his children. Birgunj saw a spike in COVID-19 cases in August.
Towards depopulation
The most straightforward way to protect the health of inmates and the community at large appears to be decongesting prisons.
According to Human Rights Watch, COVID-19 prison releases across the world have been “too few, too slow,” a huge public health risk with prison populations being extremely large due to “abusive laws that criminalize non-criminal conduct and policies that prioritize incarceration, including pretrial detention.”
The situation in Nepal is no different. A report by the Joint Registrar at Supreme Court of Nepal, Mahendra Nath Upadhaya, states that Nepal’s prison population can be decreased with an improvement in the bail system, speedy trial, early release, upgrades in infrastructure, open jails, community service options for certain offenders, and the conversion of some imprisonment sentences to fines. While all of these measures may not be possible during the pandemic, advocate Rabindra Bhattarai told The Nepali Times in April that “it is possible to reduce the number of prisoners in Nepal by one-third from 22,000 to about 7,000,” adding that “this would make prisoner management and budget easier, as well as reduce the risk of a coronavirus spread.”
Seven inmates filed a writ petition to the apex court with the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Department of Prison Management to demand the release of inmates who have already served maximum jail terms or are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. In response, the Supreme Court directed the government to release vulnerable inmates and to ensure full safety measures in jails in September. However, with governmental negligence, the Supreme Court order may be meaningless. In April, the Supreme Court issued an order to bring home all Nepali citizens stranded at the Indian border. This went unheeded as the people continued to be stranded at the border for many months after
This is part of a pattern in Nepal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic where Supreme Court orders to protect the most vulnerable members of the Nepali population, including prison inmates, are routinely disregarded. ●
Abha Lal is a journalist and editor based in Kathmandu who writes about human rights issues.
