The number of inmates in jails increased by several thousand in recent weeks amid the ongoing crackdown against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition parties ahead of the national election.
According to the Department of Prisons, 84,948 inmates were staying in the country’s 68 prisons on October 31, nearly double the capacity of 42,866.
The number of inmates increased by 7,745 in two months since September as law enforcers continued their crackdown against anti-government protesters who were demanding the resignation of the Awami League government to ensure the national election under a neutral government.
The number of jailed inmates was 77,203 in the first week of September, according to home minister Asaduzzaman Khan’s statement to parliament on September 3.
The overflow of prisons has violated prisoners’ rights to food, accommodations, medical services, and clothes as the jails are not ready to manage the sudden increased number of inmates, said Md Mizanur Rahman, Dhaka University’s law professor and former national human rights commission’s chairman.
He told New Age that prison officials often conceal their inability to equally distribute food and other essentials after the sudden arrival of new inmates.
He said that prisoners have to share food, beds, and toilets due to the sudden arrival of the inmates.
‘Problems can never be solved if actual facts are hidden deliberately,’ he added.
A total of 7,713 leaders and activists of the main opposition BNP were arrested in over 506 cases filed against 38,560 persons with their names until Saturday since the party’s foiled grand rally on October 28, according to the party.
Families of the jailed inmates told New Age that detained persons suffer an inhuman life in jails, and they need to send money to jails so that they can buy decent food from the jail canteens and fulfil other necessities.
Rana Rahman, brother of Mirzapur unit BNP leader Anisur Rahman, detained in Dhaka Central Jail since October 28, alleged that he, with the help desk of the jail, deposited Tk 2,000 on October 29 and Tk 1,000 on October 31 into the account of Anis so that he could buy food in jail.
‘But when I met Anis at the jail gate on Friday, Anis informed me that he did not receive the money,’ Rana said.
Dhaka Central Jail’s senior superintendent, Suvas Kumar Ghosh, could not be reached for comment on the allegation.
Rana said that Anis had been staying in a small cell with 40 inmates.
Lawyer Joynal Abedin Mesbah, who appeared in most of the cases against BNP leaders, told New Age that the number of prisoners was increasing daily in jails as the courts were not entertaining the bail prayers of opposition leaders during the crackdown.
‘Many detained BNP men refrained from seeking bail, thinking that they would not be granted bail during the crackdown,’ he added.
Jail officials, however, told New Age that they were used to handling the increased number of prisoners as inmates always remain higher than capacity.
An official claimed that meals are allocated based on the number of inmates daily, so there is no shortage of food in jails.
He said that daily groceries are supplied to jails through the tender process.
Home minister Asaduzzaman said on September 3 that the prison population in the country was nearly twice its capacity.
He came up with the information while replying to a tabled question from ruling Awami League lawmaker M Abdul Latif from Chattogram-11.
The total capacity of 68 prisons is 40,937 for men and 1,929 for women prisoners, he added.
He said that increasing capacity in prisons was an ongoing process.
Asaduzzaman said that the construction or expansion of Mymensingh, Cumilla, Khulna, Narsingdi, and Jamalpur prisons was in progress.
He said the capacity of the under-construction prisons would increase by 5,000 after their completion.
The home minister said the country’s lone women’s central jail in Kashimpur has a total capacity of 200 prisoners, but now 634 prisoners are staying in that jail.
The total number of women prisoners in various jails in the country was 2,981 on the day.
The minister said that Keraniganj Central Jail has a capacity of 4,590, but 9,765 prisoners are staying in this jail.-New Age
