‘Underpaid jail guards susceptible to bribery’

Many well-off inmates carry out illegal activities inside prisons by bribing a section of jail staffers.

Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Muhammad Motahar Hussain highlighted this problem in an interview with The Daily Star on Sunday.

Asked about the allegations of narcotics in jails and granting illegal privileges to the prisoners in exchange for money, he said he cannot denying those allegations as affluent prisoners "exploit the undercompensated jail staffers" in many ways.

"We have failed to address these issues effectively. That is why the problems have now become almost 'an epidemic'."

Motahar said they were taking some measures, including introduction of a digital system for inmate management, so that such problems could be addressed.

"Once the system is in place, allocation of cells to the inmates or moving them from one jail to another would be easier.

"We may not be able to eradicate the problems, but we are trying our level best to minimise them and make the situation tolerable," said the prisons chief.

Talking about jail staffers, Motahar said they are stressed-out personnel. "Although we have widened the prison areas and increased the number of jails over the years, the workforce has remained the same."

He said that the government plans to boost the jail workforce to 29,000 in phases.

"The approval for recruiting around 1,800 staffers is in the final stage, which might ease the situation somewhat. However, the government must approve hiring the new staffers as assessed to ensure jail security."

At present, the Department of Prisons has 10,719 staffers managing 68 jails with over 75,000 inmates.

According to sources, the starting monthly salary of a jail guard is Tk 16,700. Although officially their shift is eight hours a day, they often work between 12 and 14 hours daily without overtime allowance.

Jail guards are also given ration benefits for families of up to four members.

Regarding the unauthorised use of mobile phones inside jails, the IG prisons said, "It is quite embarrassing for us. When persons with serious criminal records get access to communication devices, it becomes harmful for society. We have devices like jammers to stop such practice. We are planning to install more such devices to address the problem."

Motahar, who took charge on August 11, said they were working on constructing new prison buildings in phases.

"We are inspecting the jail buildings across the country to assess the weaknesses and ensure foolproof security."

The prison chief said, "In addition to expanding the thickness of the walls, we are considering some other preventive measures. We have learned from a recent incident in which a 20-inch thick wall was breached."

In the early hours of June 26, four condemned inmates escaped from Bogura District Jail breaching the ceiling of the death row. The authorities acted swiftly and arrested those convicts on that very day.