Visit to a Nepali prison

As a part of the human rights protection and promotion work, Huron visits prisons and detention centres to safeguard the human rights situation. The prison in Nepalgunj is quite small and houses about 200 prisoners, of those some 25 women. Men and women are separated, however it is the same prison and from the respective upper floors they were talking to each others calling over the wall. In the women’s part, which I only saw through the gate, there were also some small children living together with their mothers. The children are allowed to stay until they turn 10, then they have to go somewhere else. In the men’s part the youngest prisoners were 14 years old, and there is no kind of separation from the adult prisoners, not even at night when they are locked up.

Food has to be prepared by the prisoners themselves why there are several clay stoves around the outer wall. The stoves are not nearly enough and I doubt the new ones being created will change that very much. The prisoners receive 250 g of rice per day, plus 30 Rupees (around 3 SEK) to buy the rest of the food they need. Some of them have started doing business by cooking lots of food and selling it to the others.

The rooms are small and dark, and since there is no glass in the windows they are extremely cold during winters. There is no heating, but at least they are provided with a, small and dirty, blanket for the cold nights. I imagine it is extremely hot it is during the summer, and I don’t think the fan that is in each room makes much of a difference unless positioned directly under it. There is no furniture whatsoever in the rooms, only small mats for each prisoner to sleep on, and hooks on the wall for them to keep their belongings on. The room for each prisoner is about 45 cm. Each room has a toilet (hole in the floor), but the prisoners have to clean it, as the rest of the room, themselves why of course it is not very clean. New toilets are being constructed outside, which apparently is an achievement of previous visits and remarks made by Huron and other organisations. There are no bathrooms so washing can only be done in the toilets, or under the one water hose I saw outside which does not give much privacy - but then again Nepalis don't really care for privacy.

I was positively surprised with the condition, and with facilities such as a TV-room, library, class room and the possibility to practice different religions. The living conditions are thus not good, but much better than I thought. However, legally there are problems with many of the prisoners' cases and trails; it is for example a big problem that many of them are still awaiting judgement, even after periods of up to eight years. Many are also still awaiting trial. Thus the main problem lies in the judiciary, not in the prison themselves, and about this I still do not know enough.