Lack of rehabilitation creates repeat offenders

A significant number of prisoners re-engage in criminal activities after they are released due to a lack of proper rehabilitation facilities and failure to reintegrate into the society, said Inspector General (IG) of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin yesterday.
He added that this leads to overcrowding in prisons.
The prisons in Bangladesh at present are holding prisoners double their capacities, he said at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day workshop at a hotel in the capital.
The workshop titled "We have not forgotten you- Pathways for Rehabilitation of Prisoners" was jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and GIZ, a German government organisation, under their project "Improvement of the Real Situation of Overcrowding in Bangladesh".
The workshop aims to develop skills of prisoners so that they can make a living and fit into the society again.
According to the prison directorate's estimate, till last March 31 the prison population was 65,662 (male 63,451 and female 2,211) but the capacity is only 34,167, said Senior Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed.
Around 69 percent of the total prisoners are on trial at the moment, he said, adding that many prisoners spend years waiting for their trial to end, and sometimes their time in prison pre-trial exceeds their eventual sentences.                  
Iftekhar Uddin said many inmates expressed their eagerness to develop their skills and put those to use after release.  
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan said the existing prisons are very old, but the government is working to change the scenario within two years.
While sharing her experience, Alokananda Roy, a dance therapist for Rehabilitation of Prisoners in India, said it is very sad that the family of a captive was stigmatised by the society, and that many of the ex-prisoners after their release are refused employment opportunities.