Bangladesh to release 2,884 prisoners

Bangladesh has decided to release 2,884 prisoners in bid to lessen the crowd in the prisons amid the novel coroanvirus outbreak in the country.

The inmates will be released in several phases. So far 170 of them have been released on Saturday and 385 on Saturday.

Bangladesh prison authorities said those who have been jailed for up to one year will walk out of jail. The inmates have been divided into three groups as per their duration of imprisonment -- sentenced for six months-one year, three-six months and zero-three months.

Officials at Department of Prisons said the 68 prisons of the country have the capacity to accommodate 41,000 inmates, but there are currently 85,000 convicts in the prisons across the country.

Additional inspector general of the prison department Abrar Hossain told Prothom Alo that those who are being released were convicted for maximum one year. Some of them have been in jail for a month while some for nine months.

But, he also said, those who were jailed for severe crimes such as child abduction, rape or murder will not be released.

No under-trial prisoners will be released either, he added.

Prisons inspector general AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha told Prothom Alo that the prisons have more inmates than capacity.

He said this has been initiated as per the government’s directives to reduce crowd in the cells.