Bhubaneswar: As many as 546 prisoners, under trial prisoners died in different jails of Odisha in the past 10 years, Minister of State (MoS) for, Home Tusharkanti Behera told the State Assembly today.
In a written reply to a question from BJD lawmaker Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, the MoS for Home said that the deaths of 200 prisoners and 346 undertrial prisoners have been reported in different jails of the state from 2013 to 2022.
While the death of 11 prisoners and 35 undertrial prisoners were registered in 2013, the figures reached 24 and 49 in 2022, the MoS for Home added.
As per the statement of the MoS, 43 prisoners including undertrials died in 2014, deaths of 46 prisoners registered in 2015, 48 in 2016, 47 in 2017, 51 in 2018, 53 in 2019, 78 in 2020 and 61 in 2021.
Apart from the above-mentioned deaths, 51 custodial death cases were also reported in the state during the last 10 years.
Notably, last month, the State Cabinet decided to provide compensation to the next of kin of prisoners who die inside the jails in the state.
