Nagaland has lowest prison occupancy rate in the country

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 30 (EMN): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on prisons has revealed the prison inmate population in Nagaland central jail had the lowest occupancy rate at 25% and 28.4% at district jails, which was also the lowest occupancy rate in the country.

Nagaland has 11 jails with a total capacity of 1450 as on Dec. 31, 2020, it stated.

In Nagaland, the available capacity of jails for male was 1270 and female was 180 while the inmate population was 385 for male and six for female. In the central jail, the available capacity was 600 and the inmate population was 150; in the district jails the available capacity was 850 and the inmate population was 241.  However the available capacity in the women jail was zero and the inmate population was zero.

According to the report, Nagaland has open jail, special jail, women jail, and a Borstal School – a school to ensure care, welfare and rehabilitation of young offenders in a different environment suitable for children and keep them away from contaminating the atmosphere of the prison.

Out of 1,306 jails in the country, the report stated Rajasthan had the highest number (145 out of 1,306) of jails among the states/UTs followed by Tamil Nadu (142), Madhya Pradesh (131), Andhra Pradesh (106), Odisha (92) and Uttar Pradesh (73).

Meanwhile, the total available capacity of all the prisons in the country was 4, 14,033. Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest capacity of prisons (60,685) followed by Bihar (45,862), and Madhya Pradesh (28,675).

A total of 4, 88,511 prisoners as on Dec. 30 202 were confined in various jails across the country out of which 391 inmate population was reported in Nagaland.

The prison population as per the report was ‘manageable’ at the end of the year 2020 (as on Dec. 31 2020) in 15 states and four UTs as the occupancy rate in these states/UTs remained less than 100%. Nagaland (27%) and Lakshadweep (4.7%) had the lowest occupancy rate in the country.

Among the states, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest overcrowding (177.0%) followed by Sikkim (173.8%), Uttarakhand (168.6%), and Madhya Pradesh (158.6%).

A total of 2, 11,769 inmates consisting of 2, 05,119 males, 6,620 females and 30 transgender were lodged in various central jails of the country against the total capacity of 1, 86,389 consisting of 1, 79,164 male, 7,217 female and eight transgender.