Overview
- The CAG performance audit, tabled Tuesday in the Odisha Assembly, says facilities holding about 19,000 inmates fail basic standards.
- Several jails ran above capacity, leaving as little as 0.34 to 1.61 square meters per prisoner for sleep, far short of the 3.71 square meters required.
- Against 2,203 bathing cubicles required, only 916 exist statewide, and in Deogarh some women had to bathe on open platforms, raising privacy risks.
- Critical security gear was missing or broken, and guarding strength fell to 1,282 against 3,515 required in a shift, which the audit links to 29 escapes with 12 still untraced.
- The audit found undertrials held longer than the maximum sentence for their charges and 121 mentally ill prisoners kept with others in violation of NHRC guidance.