"What can I do, Sir? My life is becoming burden to me," wailed Matar Safi, 80, who has been serving jail term in the district prison of Mahottari. Suffering from asthma, Safi’s condition is worsening for want of warm clothes and proper diet.
"My relatives do not visit me at all. I am not sure when the prison administration provides me clothes," said Safi clad in a dhoti and a shawl hardly covering his body. Safi was handed down 10 years of imprisonment in a rape case.
Similarly, Ramdev Mukhiya, 70, who was imprisoned in a murder case, is suffering from cold weather ailments. Safi and Mukhiya are some cases in point. Many inmates are suffering from cold-related diseases, thanks to the prison administration failing to provide warm cloths and blankets on time.
Despite being aware of the chilling cold, the prison administration has not shown concern to this so far.
The number of prisoners suffering from winter illness including asthma, common cold, fever and pneumonia is increasing, said the administration.
"Relatives of some inmates visit them from time to time and bring clothes for them. But others whose relatives fail to make it have no option but to brave the cold," said prison guard Sri Narayan Mahato.
At least 125 inmates receive treatment for cold-related diseases on a daily basis, said senior health worker Shovendra Thakur who is also the chief of prison.
The prison has separate rooms for male and female. The women cell has 46 people including a dependent girl while the male cell is densely overpopulated as 496 individuals have been put here.
The records of prison show that this number is the highest one since the 2042 and 2046 BS movements and the 2062-63 BS people's movement. Inmates say that they are facing the hard times due to lack of sufficient space. Few toilet and water facilities are adding woes.
As they say, they have to wait for hours to get their turns for toileting, bathing and washing clothes. There is one water tap and one toilet for the women cell and four taps and four toilets for 450. Due to poor personal hygiene, as a male inmate said, many of them have measles.
With the increasing cold, more inmates have caught respiratory related problems; pneumonia and skin diseases.
They feel that they are confined here to make them ill. Prison chief Thakur also admitted that the overcrowding issue has caused various sorts of problems for inmates. New inmates are brought to prison daily, but dress and medical budget is not provided as per the increased ratio of inmates.
A male inmate of around 60 years of age shared that it had been several days he had not taken a bath due to water shortage and as a result of poor hygiene; he is suffering from skin diseases.
The jail administration said it had repeatedly requested the local administration and prison management department, seeking their interventions to address the issue of overcrowd, but in vein. It is said that some 60 percent in the jail are detainees and a delay in prosecution in judiciary is behind a growing number of detainees in the prison.
The prison built some 150 years ago has not witnessed proper renovations since the establishment. It has been standing with walls and ceiling resembling a skeleton which has already started to crumble. The crumbling infrastructure is adding threat to physical safety of inmates and detainees in the prison.
