The Chittagong Central Jail of Bangladesh is reportedly housing inmates more than three times its capacity, forcing them to live in overcrowded conditions.
In an effort to address the situation, an initiative was undertaken by the local authorities to construct a new prison. However, no land has been allocated despite repeated appeals by the Prisons Department, local media reported on Saturday.
Citing prison sources, leading Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo reported that the jail, which can accommodate 1853 prisoners, detains an average of 6000 prisoners daily.
“Currently, there are more than three times as many prisoners in the Chittagong Prison. Despite repeated requests, we are not getting land for a new prison. If there is a new prison, it can be developed as a correctional facility, where there will be arrangements for training prisoners as workers in the fishing and garment industries,” the newspaper quoted Mohammad Motahar Hossain, Director General of the Prisons Department, as saying.
Earlier, the Chittagong district administration stated that lands in Jangal Salimpur remain under illegal occupation, and have yet to be recovered before it can be handed to the prison authorities.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and the current Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation, Shahadat Hossain, who is imprisoned in the jail in connection with a political case, described the conditions as “inhumane”.
“There is excessive pressure on prisoners. I have seen that instead of 30-40, as many as 100 people are kept in a limited area. This is inhumane. The prisoners suffer in various ways due to a lack of adequate space and washrooms. It is necessary to build a new prison in Chittagong to ensure minimum basic rights and healthcare,” the BNP leader told the Bangladeshi daily.
In October 2024, a data released by the Department of Prisons revealed that Bangladesh’s 68 prisons had a capacity of 42,887 but were housing 53,831 inmates.
Jyotirmoy Barua, a human rights activist and senior lawyer at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, stated that overcrowded prisons constitute a serious violation of human rights.
“A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by law, and it is the state’s responsibility to uphold their rights. The government should consider temporary measures to ensure constitutional equality for the accused, except for those who have been convicted,” he added.
