Overcrowding Odisha jails worsens health and hygiene for prisoners, says CAG report

A performance audit by Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India has revealed overcrowding in several prisons in Odisha affecting health and hygiene and lack of inspections of prisons and security deployment further worsened the situation.

Observing that a minimum ground space of 3.71 square metre per prisoner for sleeping barracks was required to be provided for accommodation, the CAG noticed that there was a shortage of space per inmate in barracks of the jails even in terms of scheduled accommodation which ranged from 0.34 sq. mt. (Special Jail, Bhubaneswar) to 1.61 sq. mt. (Sub-Jail, Nayagarh).

“This shortage was further accentuated as the actual inmate capacity exceeded more than 40% in four jails. Thus, the availability of less space per inmate led to congested living conditions for the prisoners. Such prisoners were deprived of the standard requisite space for sleeping and basic living conditions, as per the norms,” the apex agency said in its report which was tabled in Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday (March 31, 2026).

“Scrutiny of records at Director General of Prisons revealed that in all the 87 jails, as against the requirement of 2,203 bathing places as per the scheduled accommodations, only 916 places were available for bathing and there was a shortage of 1,287 bathing places,” the report pointed out.

“This shortage of adequate bathing places existed in 58.40% of all jails across the State. Moreover, audit scrutiny of the selected 15 units revealed that there was a shortage of bathing places in 10 out 15 jails, ranging between 50% in Sub-Jail, Athagarh to 90.57% in district Jail Balasore,” it added.

The performance report says, “in Sub-Jail Deogarh, the women inmates were using open pindis (concrete platforms)  to take a bath. Similarly, there was a shortage of 71 toilets in four out of 15 test checked jails, in which Special Jail, Bhubaneswar had the shortage of toilets to the extent of 25%. Thus, inadequate bathing spaces and toilets in jails deprived the prisoners of their basic needs of living conditions and instances of open bathing places for women inmates raised concerns regarding their privacy.”

Observing that essential security equipment required for safe and secure jail administration was either not available or not operational, the CAG said 29 escape of prisoners were recorded from 2020 to 2023, out of which 17 had been recaptured and 12 were yet to be traced and recaptured.

In another serious violation of jail manual, scrutiny of records of the 15 sampled jails revealed that in 10 jails, 121 mentally ill patients were detained as on March 31, 2023 with other prisoners without ensuring segregation.

“They were also not transferred to a lunatic asylum, place of safe custody or appropriate mental health institutions. The psychiatric prisoners were living inside the jail with other inmates and being treated by the visiting psychiatrist specialists in violation of the codal provisions and instructions of NHRC, due to non-availability of separate lunatic asylums,” the CAG says.