All prisoners of Dhaka Central Jail to be moved in one day, says IG Prisons

All inmates of the Dhaka Central Jail will be transferred to a new jail at Keraniganj in a day, the Inspector General of Prisons has said.

The staff and equipment from the jail at Old Dhaka will be transferred to new Dhaka Central Jail in phases but the prisoners will be moved within a day, said Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin at a press conference on Friday.  

“Security becomes a matter of concern if the prison transfer is done in stages. There is already a shortage of prison guards, which is why we decided to move all the prisoners in one day.

The prison authorities briefed the media ahead the inauguration on Sunday of the new Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj.  

“We have around 8,000 prisoners now. The women will be sent to Kashimpur jail and the men will be moved to Keraniganj.”

“Almost 2,500 prison vans are needed to transfer all of them. But we can’t get so many even we combine all prison vans from the 68 prisons in Bangladesh.

“But we will still do it and it will most definitely be scheduled on a weekend.” 

The date of transfer will be decided later in a meeting of the coordination committee, said Brig Gen Ifthekhar.

“We want to move to Keraniganj within April. The faster, the better.”

“We have installed mobile jammers so the inmates can’t use phones. I’ve also proposed the buying of luggage and personal scanners for the new prison and for Kashimpur jail,” he said, speaking of plans to make prisons 'tech-friendly'.

The current number of prison guards was less than sufficient, he said when asked whether moving to a 31-acre prison from a 17-acre establishment inside the capital city would mean lesser security. 

“I’ve already asked for more manpower. We won’t have this problem once it is approved,” said the prison chief. 

“We now have 750 guards. Around 250 will stay back in the capital because of detainees inside various hospitals. There are adequate living facilities in Keraniganj for the other 500.”