Bhubaneswar, Mar 13 (IANS): As many as 546 prisoners, undertrial prisoners died in different jails of Odisha in the past 10 years, junior home minister Tusharkanti Behera told state Assembly on Monday.

While giving a written reply to a question of BJD lawmaker Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Minister of State (MoS) for Home, Behera said deaths of 200 prisoners and 346 undertrial prisoners have been reported in different jails of the state during 2013 to 2022.

While death of 11 prisoners and 35 undertrial prisoners were registered in 2013, the figures reached 24 and 49 in 2022.

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 had decided to provide compensation to the next of kin of prisoners who die inside the jails in the state.