Bangladesh Jail authorities have started releasing prisoners convicted of minor offences as a precautionary measure to control infection amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Md Manzoor Hossain, assistant inspector general of prisons, said the government has decided to release 2,884 prisoners from various prisons across the country.
Already 555 prisoners were released in two steps last week.
“Rest of the 2,329 prisoners are going to be released today (Saturday),” Manzoor added.
Prisoners waiting to be released are- 953 prisoners from Dhaka division, 77 from Mymensingh division, 354 from Chittagong division, 69 from Sylhet division,158 from Khulna division, 97 from Barisal division, 423 from Rajshahi division, and 198 prisoners from Rangpur division.
Relelased prisoners sitting in front of Kushtia district jail | CollectedMeanwhile, Kushtia district jail authorities have released 24 prisoners on Saturday. At the time of the release, district authorities handed out Tk1000 for transportation to each .
In Munshiganj, 41 more prisoners were released from the district jail following the government’s decision to release prisoners convicted of minor offences on Saturday, our Munshiganj correspondent Tanjil Hasan reports.
A total of 71 prisoners will be released from Munshiganj district jail. 51 prisoners in two phases have already been released while 20 more waiting to be released, Jail Super Md Nurunnabi confirmed.
Additional Inspector General of Prisons (AIG-Prisons) Col Abrar Hossain said the government decided to pardon the prisoners under the powers conferred by Section 401 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The convicted prisoners are getting a chance to be released from the minimum term to one year of imprisonment.
According to prison authorities, there are 8,8771 prisoners in all the jails in the country.
