Severe overcrowding, critical healthcare shortages and poor living conditions have raised fresh concerns over prisoners’ basic rights….reports Asian Lite News Desk
Bangladesh’s prison system is facing severe overcrowding and a growing healthcare crisis, with the country’s 75 prisons housing more than twice the number of inmates they were designed to accommodate, according to a report.
The prisons have a combined capacity of 45,186 inmates but currently hold 98,233 people, creating overcrowded and difficult living conditions that the report described as a violation of basic human rights and an urgent challenge for authorities.
The seriousness of the situation was also acknowledged by Bangladesh’s Home Minister in Parliament several months ago.
A report published by Bangladesh’s The Daily Star highlighted a critical shortage of doctors, nurses and ambulances across the prison system, raising concerns about inmates’ access to basic healthcare.
Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, for example, has only two attached doctors for 13,958 inmates and no permanent physician, according to the report. Around 500 prisoners reportedly visit its outpatient facility each day, placing significant pressure on the available medical staff.
Of the 151 sanctioned posts for prison doctors across Bangladesh, only two have been filled, the report said. The remaining 73 prisons have to rely on part-time doctors from civil surgeon offices.
The shortage extends to nurses and ambulances, with inadequate transport making it difficult to take critically ill prisoners to hospitals for treatment.
The report said 187 prisoners died last year, while 122 deaths had already been recorded this year.
Healthcare concerns are compounded by poor living conditions and an unofficial payment system that reportedly allows inmates who can afford it to secure better sleeping arrangements and improved food.
“The more a prisoner can pay, the slightly better the conditions,” the report stated, while noting that repeated discussions about prison reform had produced little visible improvement.
Although new prisons have been constructed, the report argued that the underlying causes of overcrowding have not been adequately addressed.
It described the situation as “unacceptable” and called on the government to investigate why prisons are so overcrowded and whether all arrests leading to imprisonment were lawful.
The report also referred to media accounts of people spending years in detention because of mistaken identities, inadequate legal representation, lengthy trials, denial of bail and allegedly false charges.
It called for the validity of cases and the length of judicial proceedings to be properly assessed, particularly as large-scale law enforcement operations can lead to sudden increases in the prison population.
The report cited June and July this year as an example, when more than 26,000 people were reportedly sent to jail by mobile courts, although many received short sentences.
It questioned whether mass arrests during such special drives could result in innocent people being detained, pointing to similar concerns reported in the past.
The report said prison reform should go beyond expanding infrastructure and include measures to reduce unnecessary detention and speed up judicial proceedings.
It also called for authorities to guarantee prisoners access to essential services, including adequate healthcare, nutritious food, clean accommodation and proper sanitation.
The findings underline the need for a broader review of Bangladesh’s prison system, particularly its capacity, healthcare facilities, detention practices and judicial processes, as overcrowding continues to place pressure on both inmates and prison authorities.
