According to information received in response to an application filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act, jails in Uttarakhand hold 1.5 times more inmates than their holding capacity. Out of the total number of prisoners in the state’s prisons at present, 60 per cent are undertrials while the rest 40 per cent are serving their time after being convicted. This information was revealed in response to RTI application filed by Kashipur resident activist Nadim Uddin. According to the data procured under RTI Act, the 11 prisons in the state have the capacity to hold a total of 3,420 prisoners. However at present there are in total 5,390 prisoners held in these jails including 3,228 inmates who are waiting for the judgement in their cases.
According to the data provided by Nadim Uddin, Haldwani jail is most overcrowded among the prisons in the state. It is meant to hold 302 inmates but is holding 1162. The second most overcrowded prison of the State is the Dehradun jail which has a capacity to hold 580 inmates but is holding 1,254 inmates at present. The Almora jail is the third most overcrowded jail in the State with 189 inmates in the jail with capacity for holding 102 inmates.
The RTI activist further informed that Haridwar jail has 1,416 inmates, Roorkee jail has 401 inmates and Nainital jail has 98 inmates- all prisons holding more than their capacity. On the other hand there are five jails in the state which are holding less than their capacity for inmates. The Sampoornanand open prison in Sitarganj is capable of holding 300 inmates but has only 47 at present. Similarly, the Chamoli jail has only 56 inmates which is 43 per cent of its total holding capacity, Tehri jail has 115 inmates- about 77 per cent of its holding capacity while the Pauri jail has 135 inmates which is about 90 per cent of the jail’s holding capacity. The central jail in Sitarganj has 500 inmates, about 98 per cent of its total holding capacity.
