A total of 690 prisoners who escaped from several prisons during the July uprising in 2024 are still at large, Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Syed Mohammad Motaher Hossain has said.
Of them, prison authorities have no records or trace of 166 prisoners, he added.
He made the comments at a press conference at the headquarters of the Department of Prisons in Bakshibazar, Dhaka, on Tuesday.
Motaher said 2,247 prisoners escaped after several prisons were breached in 2024. Of them, 690 remain absconding.
A total of 826 prisoners escaped from Narsingdi District Jail, while the authorities have been unable to trace the records of 166 of them, he said.
Nine suspected militant prisoners also escaped from prisons, of whom six have since been arrested. The remaining three are still at large.
The prisons chief said the country’s prisons are currently holding more than twice their designated capacity, making accommodation a major challenge.
“Under the current circumstances, it is not possible to keep militant prisoners separately,” he said.
“Our goal was not merely to operate prisons, but to lay the foundation for a modern correctional service where security, correction and rehabilitation of inmates, as well as the professional dignity, skills and welfare of prison officials and employees, receive equal importance,” he added.
Mymensingh District Jail has been operating as a “cashless” prison since June 24, Motaher said, adding that the initiative has created greater scope for transparency in prison management.
The administrative structure at the headquarters and divisional levels has also been reorganised to improve the efficiency of prison administration, he said.
On addressing the longstanding manpower shortage, Motaher said 1,899 new posts have already been approved, while a demand for another 1,500 posts has been sent to the relevant authorities.
He said recruitment would be made more transparent, competitive, merit-based and technology-driven. Increased use of technology has reduced opportunities for irregularities and broker syndicates while helping authorities identify impersonators at different stages of the recruitment process.
“Merit, qualifications, integrity and professional competence will be the primary considerations in recruitment to the prisons department,” he said.
To ease overcrowding and improve prison management capacity, the government has also taken steps to open new prisons, Motaher said.
So far, two central prisons and eight district prisons have been opened.