Prison in Mizoram overcrowded

Five prisons out of 10 in Mizoram are highly overcrowded, short-staffed and the jail buildings in dilapidated conditions, according to the officials of the state prison department on Sunday. The officials said that there are 838 more prisoners than the capacities of the 5 jails. While there are 844 prisoners at Central Jail in Aizawl against the capacity of 438, Women Central Jail also has 164 prisoners as against the capacity of 96 prisoners. As of Sunday there are 112 inmates in Aizawl district jail having the capacity to accommodate only 90 prisoners.

South Mizoram’s Lunglei district jail also is having 156 inmates while the prison’s capacity is 109 and Myanmar border Champhai district jail is also having 160 prisoners as against the capacity of 105 inmates. However, district jails of Siaha, Lawngtlai, Kolasib, Mamit and Serchhip are having less inmates than the full capacity.

The state has witnessed numerous jail breaks during the last two years including some hard-core criminals and having serious criminal cases escaping from different prisons. Attributing the frequent prison breaks to extreme shortage of manpower and tumbledown conditions of the prison buildings including cells, the officials said that the short-staffed prisons may experience more jail escapes.

Legislation of local dry law by the state assembly can be attributed to the mushrooming of prisoners as the prohibition act in force has failed miserably only resulting in exorbitant rates of liquor but not availability of alcohol in the state. Mizoram being one of the main conduits for drug trafficking, especially heroin and methamphetamine also highly contributes to the swelling number of prisoners. The strategic location of the state, which shares 404-km-long porous international border with Myanmar, has resulted in massive flow of drugs from the neighbouring country, which, due to its proximity with the infamous Golden Triangle became the main drug trafficking route for years. EOM