The High Court has ordered the prison authorities to file details of 68 jails across the country, including their capacities, number of inmates and doctors at prison hospitals.
The bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader gave the order on Sunday (Jun 23) after hearing a petition.
The inspector general (IG) of prisons has been told to file a report within six weeks.
The court also issued a rule asking why the inactiveness of the concerned authorities to ensure quality living standards for inmates as well as filling up vacant posts of prison doctors will not be declared illegal.
Secretaries to the ministry of law, security division of the home ministry, public administration ministry, social welfare ministry and health ministry as well as the chief of the health directorate and the IG prisons have been ordered to respond within four weeks.
The court’s order came after the initial hearing of a petition filed by lawyer JR Khan Robin, who filed the plea in March after his legal notice to concerned authorities fetched no response.
The petition says that the 68 prisons across the country house 89,564 inmates against the capacity of 40,664.
It also said that the prisons are supposed to have 129 doctors but in reality it was only nine, depriving inmates of proper medical care.