Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Syed Motaher Hossain said that the total capacity of prisons across the country is 42,877 prisoners, but there are 70,065 prisoners inside.
He shared this information at a press conference held at the prison headquarters in Bakshibazar of Dhaka on Monday afternoon.
The Inspector General of Prisons said, “At the moment there are 151 first-class prisoners who have been given divisions. Among them, 30 are former ministers, deputy ministers, state ministers, 38 are former members of parliament, 70 are government officials and employees and 13 others individuals. Apart from this, there are 24 special prisoners, former ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers or members of parliament, government officials, who have not been given divisions for various reasons.”
He said that among those who escaped from prisons after August 5, 700 are still at large. Law enforcement has not yet been able to arrest them. In addition, one of the 70 escapees, including death row, life sentence and militants, has been arrested. The remaining 69 are still at large.
He also said, “There have been reports that several special prisoners are eating home food and are living like kings. I can definitely say that we are practicing fair treatment in prison. Not just special prisoners, we are not giving any concessions to any prisoner.”
He admitted at the press conference that in the last 3 months, 275 quick search operations were conducted in Keraniganj Prison alone to make the prison drug and mobile phone free, and a significant number of small button phones and drugs were recovered along with a large amount of cash.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
