Inspector General (IG) of Prison Brigadier General Syed Eftekhar Uddin on Sunday said that the jail authority has taken initiative to set up luggage and body scanners inside jails across the country to prevent entering illegal drugs inside the prisons.
"Despite strict security, illegal drug is being entering inside the jails. After completion of setting up luggage and body scanners inside the prisons, entry of illegal drugs will be stopped," IG (Prison) said replying to a question while briefing reporters for Prison Week 2018 at the prison headquarters of Bakshibazar in the capital on Sunday.
Prison Week 2018 is set to begin on March 20 at Kashimpur Prison Complex in Gazipur. President Md Abdul Hamid will formally inaugurate the Prison Week 2018.
The IG Prison said that the authority failed to stop smuggling of drugs inside the jails due to lack of adequate manpower.
He said that a total of 77,124 prisoners have been languishing in 68 jails across the country against total capacity of 36,614 prisoners. Of the prisoners, 35.97 per cent inmates have been kept inside the jails due to drug related cases, he added.
Various types of drugs are being entering inside the jail in unique ways such as inside onion sacks, toothpaste, soap, collars of shirt wearing by prisoners and even inside chilly powders, the IG Prison said.
He hoped that drug smuggling would be stopped after completion of setting up scanners inside the jails.
About allegation of a section of jail guards are involved in drug smugglings, he said 20 jail guards, who were allegedly involved in helping to enter illegal drugs inside the jail, have already been identified in last year. Of them, three were dismissed from the service, while departmental proceedings against others are underway, he added.
The top prison officer said the existing Prison Act is being amended to bring dynamism and make it time befitting. The Prison Act would be passed in the parliament within this year after following necessary formalities, he hoped.
If the Prison Act is passed after necessary amendments, there will be a lot of benefits. Judges can take testimonies of the prisoners from prison for it. Besides, the prisoners will be able to talk to their family members over mobile phones.
About Prison Week 2018, he said, the purpose of this week is to create friendly relations between the prisoners and jail guards as well as to remove negative ideas of common people about the jails, reports UNB.
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