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).
Indian jails plagued by overcrowding, lack of medical, mental health professionals: report
“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.
