The National Human Rights Commission ruled Friday that placing a prisoner in an overcrowded cell is a human rights violation, even if it is for punishment or interrogation.
The commission told the Justice Ministry to warn and demand a local jail, which was found to have placed two to three prisoners in a cell smaller than 3.3 square meters, to improve its standards.
Current regulations say that solitary confinement should be limited to one convict per room, and that other cells should accommodate one person per 2.58 square meters.
The human rights panel conducted a probe after a complaint in February by one of the inmates at the jail who said he was incarcerated for four months with one or two others in a cell.
There were more than 100 other such cases at the same jail, in some instances when the prison had vacant cells, the panel said.
"It is inhumane to place two to three convicts in a room sized 3.3 square meters," the commission said. "The basic premise of human rights is that the imprisoned, even if they are paying the price for violating the law, must be guaranteed the basic dignity as a human being."
The Justice Ministry and the accused prison said overcrowding was inevitable given the large number of prisoners, and that overcrowding may
occur temporarily.