A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report found that prisons in Odisha remain overcrowded with broken security cameras and unspent welfare funds.
The CAG in its performance and compliance audit for the year ending March 31, 2023, highlighted a systemic failure across Odisha’s 87 jails revealing that overcrowding had reached a crisis point, with some facilities holding more than double their sanctioned capacity.
The report was tabled in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday.
The audit found living conditions for the state’s approximately 19,000 inmates fall below statutory norms.
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Seven of the 15 audited jails were severely overcrowded, with Special Jail Bhubaneswar operating at 25% over capacity and District Jail Balasore at 21%.
In these facilities, inmates were provided with as little as 1.91 square meters of sleeping space, far below the required 3.71 square meters mandated by the Odisha Model Jail Manual 2020. There was a shortage of 1,287 bathing places across the state’s 87 jails. In some units, such as Sub-Jail Deogarh, women inmates were forced to use open platforms (pindis) for bathing due to a lack of covered cubicles.
The audit, which test-checked 15 prison units, found that out of 493 closed-circuit cameras installed across those facilities, 92 were defunct or non-operational. Of nine mobile jammers meant to prevent the smuggling and use of illicit mobile phones inside jails all were found to be non-functional. Of 317 walkie-talkie units, 149 were not working. In four jails, door-frame metal detectors were entirely absent; in the remaining units where 11 were installed, three had been moved away from entrances, rendering them useless for their intended purpose.
{{/usCountry}}The audit, which test-checked 15 prison units, found that out of 493 closed-circuit cameras installed across those facilities, 92 were defunct or non-operational. Of nine mobile jammers meant to prevent the smuggling and use of illicit mobile phones inside jails all were found to be non-functional. Of 317 walkie-talkie units, 149 were not working. In four jails, door-frame metal detectors were entirely absent; in the remaining units where 11 were installed, three had been moved away from entrances, rendering them useless for their intended purpose.
{{/usCountry}}“Audit observed that due to the absence of these security equipment, the prisoners could not be scanned during admission to the prisons,” the report stated.
The audit also found that a significant number of undertrials had spent periods of custody exceeding the maximum punishment prescribed for the offences with which they were charged, raising acute concerns about violations of fundamental rights.