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The prisons authorities are battling hard to deal with the country's overcrowded jails that are now witnessing a 'record number' of inmates during the last one decade, officials said.
Usually, most of the prisons remain packed with under-trial prisoners and convicts. But large-scale arrest of people during the last few months has only compounded the problem of the jail authorities, sources said.
There are 68 jails all over the country having a total capacity of holding 36,614 inmates. But the number of prisoners as of December 02, 2018 stood at 90,287, according to the Prisons Directorate under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Of the prisoners, 17,658 are convicted and the rest 69,808 are facing trial. Of the total prison inmates, the number of female inmates is only 3,528.
In the division-wise scenario of the inmates, Dhaka division accommodates the highest number of inmates of 31,832, followed by Chattagram (21,683), Rajshahi (11,662), Khulna (7,392), Rangpur (5,933), Sylhet (4,841), Mymensingh (3,707) and Barisal (3,037).
According to the sources, the prisons are now holding the highest number of inmates after 2007, when the number reached 100,000 following crackdown of the then caretaker government against politicians and businesspeople.
Subsequently, the authorities concerned find themselves in a difficult situation not in ensuring inner security only but also in providing the minimum service facilities to the inmates, especially accommodation, food, healthcare and sanitation.
The government has allocated funds worth Tk 8.43 billion in the budget for the current fiscal year (FY), 2018-19, to the directorate for operating its activities.
However, given the overall situation that is now prevailing in the prisons, the actual expenditure, in all likelihood, will overshoot the allocation, said people concerned.
In the last fiscal (FY 18), the allocation for the directorate was revised upward to Tk 8.28 billion from the actual allocation of Tk 7.51 billion to meet the rising expenditures.
When contacted, Assistant Inspector General of Prisons (Administration) Md. Abdullah Al Mamun said the prisons, on an average, hold 70,000 inmates against the capacity of 36,614, but the aggregate number has crossed 90,000.
"Of course, there is pressure, but we're trying our best to maintain the huge number with limited resources," he said.
Mentioning the ongoing anti-drug crackdown across the country behind the growing inflow of prisoners, he said one-third of the inmates are linked with drug trading or consumption.
"This is not true that detention of a large number of political leaders and activists is putting extra pressure on the jail authorities. It is the drug-related cases that put 30,041 people under trial," he added.
Seeking anonymity, a prisons official said they have not witnessed such a pressure of inmates since 2008.
He also said the drug-related cases have been holding major share of the inmates for a long time, even before the countrywide crackdown started.
"But, anti-drug drive is not the only reason. Political arrests are also playing a vital role behind the inflow of inmates," he said, referring to the data of November 30 when the number of inmates crossed 93,000.
He opined that the over-congested condition in the country's 68 prisons causes multi-pronged difficulties in managing health, foods, accommodation and sanitary facilities for the prisoners.
Under the jail code, each prisoner is entitled to get 36 square feet as living space in a jail. But the jail authorities, in many cases, accommodate four inmates in the same space because of the growing number of prisoners.
The number of inmates in Dhaka Central Jail crossed its capacity several years ago, and now it does not have any space left for accommodating any more inmates.
Opposition political alliance Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF) has long been alleging that thousands of their leaders and activists have been arrested by the police on false charges ahead of the 11th parliamentary polls slated for December 30.
But the ruling party leaders, however, have been denying the allegations, saying that police arrest people on specific charges only.