The Prisons Directorate and the government claimed that the two top militant leaders have been kept in a house in a residential area "isolated from people" to ensure "special security".

But the "security" aspect of the arrangement gets pale when considered the fact that "top-of-the-list" convicts such as the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are kept at the Dhaka Central Jail.

Though the jail authorities claimed the two JMB kingpins have been kept there under prisons rules, sources said the rules are being violated by serving them food that comes from outside.

According to the jail code, food for prisoners should be supplied by the jail authorities and there should be a diet menu and a diet resister, which are not being maintained in this case.

Besides, all foods served to condemned prisoners are tested and approved by a jail doctor before serving. But there is no doctor on duty in this sub-jail.

When ousted president HM Ershad was kept at a similar sub-jail in early 1990s, food was initially supplied from the Dhaka Central Jail, and later arrangements were made to cook food for him at the sub-jail.

Contrary to the authorities' claim that the JMB leaders have been kept in an isolated area, civilians are seen wandering around the one-storey house [sub-jail] adjacent to two two-storey buildings for government officials at Paikpara in Mirpur.

The Prisons Directorate admitted that the three buildings have one common entrance and the residents of these two buildings use that gate.

Prisoners in other countries are also kept in sub-jails instead of prisons, State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar yesterday said in defence of the fact.

"The number of detainees and prisoners at our jails is about eight to 10 times than the capacity and we do not have the manpower to properly manage this huge number of inmates," he told reporters after a special meeting on law and order.

But the government did not take any effort to increase the number of condemned cells in last four and a half years.

Moreover, there is no instance of keeping condemned prisoners in makeshift prison.

Inspector General (IG) (Prisons) Brigadier General Zakir Hossain said the government has taken the decision perhaps because the number of condemned prisoners now is 862 whereas the capacity of prison cells for them is only one-sixth.

"Five to six condemned prisoners are now kept in a cell although each of them is supposed to be kept in separate cells," he told The Daily Star last night.

Asked why the government has kept the two top JMB men in a separate arrangement while many top criminals like the convicts of Bangabandhu murder case have been kept in prisons, the IG said, "Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai cannot be compared with others--they are convicted for totally different crimes. The government feels the need for ensuring special security for these two.

"Since the cells in prisons are overcrowded, the possibility of their communicating with others cannot be totally brushed aside," he said, adding that the two may convince others inside the jail and thus establish communication with their men outside the prison.

The IG Prisons described the security at the isolated place as "more than sufficient".

The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) is maintaining the security of the sub-jail.

The IG Prisons said, "Rab men have been deployed as they are more skilled than the jail guards. But the jail authorities are looking after the administration."

The home ministry and Prisons Directorate protested reports on the two JMB leaders being treated luxuriously in the sub-jail.

The IG Prisons said the rooms where they have been kept are smaller than the cells in prisons and there is no ventilation or electric fan. "Food is being supplied according to the jail code under our supervision," he said.

It is not possible for anyone to meet, talk or take photographs of the two JMB men or the rooms as no one except the officials concerned is allowed to enter the jail premises, he said.