Kashimpur jail incident and the need for prison reforms

There are allegations of corruption, irregularities and negligence of duties against almost everyone, from jail superintendent to jailor, who have responsibilities in the prisons. Many of those irregularities remain in the dark. In some cases, no action is taken against the accused even after found guilty in investigations. As a result, the prisons have become more and more vulnerable.

The recent incident where a convicted inmate of Kashimpur jail was seen spending time with a woman inside the prison is very worrying. To get the facility, the accused paid Tk 100,000 taka to the jailor, Tk 25,000 to the deputy jailor and Tk 5,000 each to the sergeant instructor, assistant gate keeper and head prison guard as bribe, shows the inquiry report by the jail superintendent. It did not end there.

The accused jailor claimed the rendezvous was arranged with the permission of the jail superintendent Ratna Roy. That means, the entire jail authorities are engaged in such misdeeds. An alleged militant fled from the same prison while being taken to the court earlier. A newspaper on Sunday published a report titled ‘Money can buy anything in the country’s jails’.

According to the lawm nobody is allowed to meet any inmate without the permission of the jail authorities. How could somebody spend hours with an inmate then? Also a visitor cannot enter into the office of any official. There is a fixed room for visitors. There are allegations of drug trading and abuse inside the prisons. A vested quarter of jailors not only help in supplying drugs but also they use the drugs. Many of them faced punishment, too. This cannot go on.

Jail super Ratna Roy and jailor Nur Mohammad were withdrawn following the incident. It is said that the decision was made for the sake of further investigation. The authorities earlier appointed the jail super to look into the matter. Later, it was revealed that the jail super herself was involved in the irregularities. Corruption and irregularities cannot be stopped through such deceptive inquiry.

The inquiry report prepared by the committee headed by the Home ministry’s security service division secretary Md Shahiduzzaman reveals, the corruption and irregularities prevail in our prisons under the shelter of the higher authorities.

The prison directorate has recommended reinstating the officials who were suspended due to corruption. This is very suspicious. The home minister Asaduzzaman himself raised question on why such recommendations made repeatedly.

There are many other problems in the prisons of Bangladesh. The prisons have capacity of 36,614 inmates whereas there are about 95,000 prisoners. The manpower in the jail is less than required. Irregularities, mismanagement and corruption of the prison administration have overshadowed these problems.

Prison is a correctional facility for prisoners. The way the prison officials are involved in corruption and irregularities, these correctional facilities need to be corrected first. All the officials involved in the Kashimpur jail incident should be brought to justice. Withdrawal of the accused is not a punishment. He or she will do the same thing where posted next.