Odisha plans closure of 18 under-occupied jails

Many of the jails being closed were built when the state was under British rule

Overcrowding of jails may be a problem in the rest of the country, but the Odisha prisons department has sought the state government’s permission to shut at least 18 of its 88 jails that are under-occupied.

Representational photo.

“In the first instance, we have proposed the closure of 12 jails. As the video-conferencing facilities are available in the nearby bigger jails, it would be easier to produce the inmates of the closed jails before the courts concerned,” said Odisha’s director general of prisons, Santosh Upadhyay.

According to official data, there were 17,563 undertrials and convicts in the 88 jails against the capacity of 19,291, which accounts for an occupancy rate of 91%. Till the end of 2019, there were 4,78,000 inmates in 1,350 jails across the country against a capacity of around 400,000. Delhi had the highest occupancy rate in prisons of 174.9% followed by Uttar Pradesh (167.9%) and Uttarakhand (159.0%) till December 31, 2019.

Upadhyay said many of the jails being closed were built when the state was under the British rule. “While the jail at Pallahara has a capacity for 58 inmates, even half of it is not filled. Jails like one in Madanpur-Rampur of Kalahandi, and in Bargarh’s Sohela, the inmate population is also very low,” he said.

A new prison for convicts has also come up at Athgarh. A second such jail is coming up in Sundargarh to house 1,000.

Officials said the closure of jails would help in redistribution of the existing staff guarding the jails. Currently, 292 jail guard posts are vacant.