MHRC conducts surprise visit to Jowai district jail, directs construction of additional buildings  for decongestion 

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 4, 2023

Chairperson of the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission Justice T Vaiphei on Friday conducted a surprise visit to the District Prison and Correctional Home, Jowai. 

He was accompanied by the MHRC members B Giri and PJP Hanaman and secretary FM Dopth.

The Commission observed that the District Prison and Correctional Home, Jowai was highly congested as against the capacity of 120 inmates, the facility was housing as many as 298 inmates. 

The Commission directed the Deputy Superintendent of the District Prison and Correctional Home, Jowai to temporarily convert the hall for vocational training into a ward for the inmates to ease the problem of congestion in the existing wards.

The vocational training facility could be shifted to the Video Conferencing room which was found to be spacious. 

The Commission also desired that additional buildings should be constructed by the Government to ensure decongestion of the wards. 

Only one toilet was available in each ward which was highly inadequate to cater to the needs of as many as 50 inmates who were presently being housed in each ward and there was an urgent necessity for construction of additional toilets in each ward. 

The Commission has directed the Deputy Superintendent of the Jail to submit a report on the status of the cases pending against each inmate to enable the Commission to take up the matter with the concerned legal service authority for expeditious disposal of their cases. This would be a step towards decongesting the jail.

The Commission was not happy with the absence of the Medical Officer of the Jail during the visit as there was a large number of inmates who needed constant medical supervision.