The probe body formed by the government to look into the escape of a prisoner from Kashimpur Central Jail-2 has recommended to take action against at least 20 officers and employees of the jail.
It recommended to take disciplinary action and departmental procedure against them, and transferring them to district jails and to less important positions.
According to a source, a number of the accused may lose job while at least three top officials may be demoted.
Prisoner Abu Bakkar Siddique who was sentenced to life went missing from the jail in Gazipur on 6 August. It was later discovered that he had escaped the jail using a self-made ladder when no one intercepted him.
The probe committee recommended departmental procedure under the Employee Discipline and Appeal Rules-2018 and transfer to a less important jail of all these officers and employees identifying their irregularities.
Among the officials, head warder Abul Kalam Azad had not reported of any mismatching of the number of prisoners to the higher authorities.
Assistant head warder Ahammad Ali, responsible to keep the hazardous materials inside the jail under his direct control and to monitor the inmates, was found not to check the materials properly. He did not inform the jailer or jail super of the ladder used in the escape. The committee recommended his temporary dismissal too.
Detective warders Huq Mia, warders Monirul Islam, Ali Nur, Sajib Hossain, Yousuf, and Anwar were accused over negligence of duty. Another warder Rakibul Hassan was found neglecting his duty while armed patrolling from a watch tower.
Assistant head warder Abdur Rouf failed to notice the ladder during his duty. Head warder Shawkat Ali was found negligent over the regular head count of prisoners.
Warder Md Shahidul Islam, head of the riot control forces in the jail, who in the CCTV footage was seen gossiping with a number of prisoners and warders when the Abu Bakkar was carrying away the ladder. Temporary dismissal has been sought for him too.
Warder Arif Sarker, who was assigned to monitor the CCTV, failed to carry out his duty to ensure the proper use of security equipment while jailer Md. Baharul Islam, deputy jailers Md. Faruk Hossain, Md. Monir Hossain, Md. Akherul Islam, and Nur Mohammad Sohel were found extremely negligent and incompetent in duty. Deputy jail super Md. Mahbub Kabir was found to have given a statement that did not match with his responsibilities.
Senior jail super Jahanara Begum had informed the district magistrate of the incident a day after being informed of the escape. This is a violation of jail code 71 (2).
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Prothom Alo that the inspector general of prisons has been asked to implement all the recommendations made by the probe committee and the ministry officials have been asked, too, to take quick action over the incident.
The head of the probe committee and additional inspector general of prisons, Abrar Hossain, said the gravest crime was that no high officials of the Kashimpur jail informed the authorities of the incident. We came to know about it from the detectives. We could take action if we had been informed immediately, he said, adding that the top officials of the jail must take the responsibility of the irregularities.
The probe committed has set a number of steps to prevent a recurrence of such incidents:
1. Ensuring exemplary punishment of officers and employees responsible for failing to ensure prisoner security and prevent prisoner escape as per the prison and service rules.
2. Ensuring that, in all prisons, inmates wear prison clothes outside of their respective prison building.
3. Undertaking special security measures based on the prisoners’ characteristics and criminal record.
4. Informing the appropriate authorities immediately after any untoward incident in the prison.
5. Ensuring that the prisons do not have any hazardous materials or equipment that can be used to escape.
6. Not keeping any official or employee at the same workplace for a long time.