Staff Reporter :
The total holding capacity in the country’s 68 jails is 36,614 where 77,124 prisoners are now living till March 15.
IG Prison Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin informed this at a press conference organized on the occasion of ‘Prisons Week-2018’ at the Department of Jail in the city on Sunday.
“The capacity for women prisoners in the jails is 1,674 but there are 2748 prisoners. Male prisoners capacity is 34,940 but there are 74,376 prisoners. Among them, 14,043 are convicted accused. There are 577 militants in captivity and 296 children in the jail with their captive mothers,” he said.
Brig. Gen Iftekhar Uddin said the number of prisoners is much higher than of the prisons’ capacity. So, despite will, it is not possible to provide the right service, he said.
Among the prisoners, 1,588 convicts in different cases have been suffering from various diseases. Some are suffering from old-aged complications. Though there are arrangements for medical treatment according to the Jail Code, they also fall sick for most of the time, he said.
Referring to 35 per cent of the prisoners as drug addicts, the IG Prisons said, “We have some unscrupulous people. We are not all angels. But with whom such complaints are being received, we are taking immediate action against them. We are handing over them to police. In this case, 20 people already have been suspended.”
Responding to a question, Brig Gen Iftekhar Uddin said, “Correcting the prisoners is a complex process. According to the international rules three things are done to correct the prisoners. Firstly, discipline, secondly characteristic correction, and thirdly to increase the skills of the prisoners’ livelihood to make them confident.”
He said, “Because of the shortage of manpower, we can do only third number job while other two cannot.”
Refuting the jail code law, the IG Prison said, “The reform of the jail term of the British Act has begun to formulate new jail code legislation.”
