Prisons to have video links with courts

The system will be introduced first in Dhaka and then expanded countrywide, Inspector General of Police (Prison) Brig Gen Zillur Rahman said during a visit to Barisal Central Jail on Wednesday.

This is part of a master plan to improve the condition of prisons, which should not only be places of punishment, but also of correction, he said.

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Like the correction centre for male juveniles at Gazipur in Dhaka, a separate centre for females will be set up at Kona Bari, he said.

Separate prisons for female prisoners are being planned. For jails at divisional headquarters, day care centers will be opened for children of female prisoners, the IG Prison said.

More 129 under-trial prisoners (Hazati) detained for periods more than their probable punishment terms will be freed soon. Twenty-nine such prisoners were freed earlier.

An order has been issued to scrutinise and list all prisoners of this type.

He expressed his dissatisfaction over irregularities at Barisal Central Jail. He ordered the jail authorities to improve sanitation facilities for prisoners.

Reconstruction of the two old three-storey buildings declared abandoned by the PWD would begin soon, he added.