‘They have to wear prison uniforms’

Every accused, convicted after trial and sent to jail, has to wear black/white striped shirt and pajamas as a uniform in prisons.

This outfit has been provided to the convicted inmates as a strategy to separate them from the non-convicted inmates. But in recent time, inmates were found wearing regular clothes inside the prisons.

Due to such rules violation, it became difficult to monitor and maintain the discipline inside prisons and the convicted inmates were using it as a scope to escape, several prison officials said while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

The latest example of escaping from jail wearing regular clothes was found in August last year.

Abu Bakkar Siddique, a convict sentenced to life-term imprisonment, escaped from Kashimpur Central Jail-2 by walking out through the main gate with a ladder in his hand. He was not wearing any prison uniform, sources claimed.

Besides, inmates often allegedly flee from hospitals in Dhaka while undergoing treatment. Sources said they often change to regular attires at hospital washrooms and escape.

After such irregularities were noticed by the Department of Prisons, a letter was sent to jail superintendents and jailers of all the district and central jails on March 15.

The letter, signed by Col Abrar Hossain, additional inspector general of prisons, said it has been noticed in recent period that convicted inmates are not wearing prison uniforms and are moving around inside the prisons wearing regular clothes.

"It is disrupting the prison discipline... There is also a chance of untoward incidents such as prisoners escaping taking place, which is not desirable under any circumstances," according to the letter, also sent to all deputy inspector generals of prisons.

To facilitate proper prison administration, every prisoner has to wear the prescribed attire as per prison rules, read the letter. It also asked all officials to take appropriate steps in this regard.

If the directives are not followed properly then stern legal action will be taken against all the responsible persons, the letter further warned.

Asked about it, Brig Gen Mominur Rahman Mamun, inspector general of prisons, told The Daily Star yesterday that he has found irregularities during his visit to different jails in the country.

They have sent the letter to remind all the officials concerned about the rules. "Prison authorities need to make sure that inmates wear prescribed inmate attires," he said.

"The convicted prisoners have specific and selected attires to wear but inmates whose cases are still in trail phase have no such outfits. These clothes are given to separate the two. Everyone has to follow this in a disciplined manner," said the prison chief.

"We are collecting information of all the irregularities and improving the situation in phases," he added.

Talking with the correspondents, a jailer of a central jail said they are not getting proper supply of clothes for inmates. Due to the shortage, it gets difficult to ensure attires for all of them, said the official. "We at times asked for 50-set prison clothes but only got 10 sets," he said.

He further said if a convicted prisoner moved around in regular dress, it often creates obstacle in ensuring tougher surveillance. For this reason, inmates got a chance to escape, the official added.

Contacted, Amzad Hossain Don, jailer of Rangpur prison, said they have received the letter and already taken necessary steps. They have around 300 convicted inmates in the jail and all of them are wearing the assigned uniforms, he added.

According to prison sources, there are around 15,000 convicted inmates in the country's 68 jails now and some 68,000 inmates are waiting for their trails to end.