ABOUT 700 prisoners who escaped jails during the time of turmoil around the fall of the Awami League government, toppled on August 5 in a mass uprising that resulted from student protests spanning July, still being at large is worrying. The prisons directorate at a press conference in Dhaka on December 4, highlighting the directorate鈥檚 activities of the past three months, said that more than 2,200 people escaped from five jails; and 1,500 of them have so far either surrendered or have been arrested by the law enforcement agencies. In the Narsingdi jailbreak that took place on July 19, 826 prisoners and others detained escaped; 596 prisoners escaped the Satkhira jail and 518 prisoners escaped the Sherpur jail on August 5; 201 prisoners escaped the Kashimpur jail on August 6 and close to a hundred prisoners escaped the Kushita jail on August 7. What is further worrying, as the inspector general of prisons has said, is that some of the people who escaped are death-row convicts and many, especially in the Narsingdi jailbreak, have escaped with looted firearms. This makes the situation alarming. The inspector general seeks to say the jailer concerned has been suspended after the incident and necessary action has been taken against all others responsible. But this does not lessen the gravity of the situation at all.
The jailbreaks appear to have happened at a time when law and order was not in shape amidst the political turmoil and mostly after August 5, when law enforcement was very weak. The army, which promised to attend to issues of law and order and security, appears to have left the prisons inadequately attended. The prisons authorities also appear to have taken no proper precautions to protect the prisons, especially at a time when law enforcement was clearly declining or declined. The jailbreaks in Kashimpur, Satkhira, Kushtia and Sherpur are reported to have happened after demonstrations by some prisoners and in some cases attacks by the cohorts and relatives of the prisoners from outside the jails. In the Kashimpur jailbreak that happened on August 7, at least six prisoners are reported to have been killed when prison guards shot at them. A similar incident also happened in the Sirajganj jail on August 7, but the prison guards, aided by the army, could foil the jailbreak attempt. All this having happened, the inspector general of prisons at the press conference at hand has said that 17 out of the 69 jails were in a rickety condition. A situation like this warrants that the authorities should immediately attend to the physical condition of the prisons so that such jailbreaks do not recur. There should be no lapses in the security of prisons to stop such events from recurring.
Whilst the authorities should take early steps to prevent the recurrence of any jailbreak, they should also put in more efforts to find out and arrest the people who broke the prions and are still at large because they continue to pose security risks.
