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Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday revealed the prison population in the country is nearly twice the capacity of prisons to house them.
The home minister said this while replying to a tabled question from ruling Awami League MP M Abdul Latif from Chattogram-11.
“The total capacity of 68 prisons in the country is 42,866 people. The capacity is for 40,937 men and 1,929 women prisoners. Against this capacity, the total number of prisoners staying at different jails is 77,203,” said Khan.
He said that all the jails in the country except for Jashore, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Feni, Pirojpur and Madaripur jails, have more prisoners than their capacity.
He said that increasing the capacity in prisons is an ongoing process.
Asaduzzaman Khan mentioned that the construction or expansion of Mymensingh, Cumilla, Khulna, Narsingdi and Jamalpur prisons is in progress.
He said that the capacity of the under-construction prisons will increase by 5,000 after the completion.
The home minister said that the country's lone women's central jail in Kashimpur has a total capacity of 200 prisoners, but now 634 prisoners are staying in that jail.
On the other hand, the total number of women prisoners in various jails of the country is 2,981.
The minister said, Keraniganj Central Jail in Kashimpur has a capacity of 4,590 but there are 9,765 prisoners staying in this jail.
In response to another question of M Abdul Latif, the Home Minister said that in 2022, 113.3 kg of Ice and 167 LSD strips were seized across the country.
In 2023, just from January to July, those numbers have been exceeded, with 114.5 kg of ice and 129 LSD strips were seized.
The home minister said that Yaba and Ice infiltrate into Bangladesh through the Naf River from neighboring Myanmar.
In reply to another question, the home minister said that anti-drug committees have been formed in 31,080 educational institutions across the country to protect students from the menace of drugs.
While replying to another query of M Abdul Latif, home minister said, the government is preserving database of human traffickers through crime data management system software.