Amid the widespread road-safety protests in early August, police arrested 22 private university students on charges of violence.
They were remanded for two days and spent 12 days in jail before being finally released on bail.
In the second instalment of a three-part series, the students describe the life as a prisoner
“It may not be 12 years, but 12 days is also a long time if it’s inside prison. We had no idea when we will get out or released at all. But the days there passed in waiting for something good to happen,” said Jahedul Haque, one of the university students charged by police for violence during the road-safety protests.
After three days in in police custody, Haque and 21 other students landed in the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj as the court denied bail to them.
“We were free to roam inside the building. I spent most of the day staring outside through the balcony. I could see buses on the road. And the protests demanded disciplining the runaway transport sector. We supported it, but the fact is we were not part of the protest, but the police arrested us.”
The 22 students were arrested on Aug 6 and produced in court before they were remanded for two days. After spending 12 days in prison, they were released on Aug 19 and 20.
“To pass time, I tried to analyse the behaviour of inmates. What we always hoped for is to see familiar faces. We would wait the whole day for a visitor. Whenever, names of inmates were announced in the loudspeakers, the only thing was to do is to listen carefully whether my name comes up,” said Haque.
Bangla Tribune caught up with several other students, who shared their experience with this correspondent.
According to the very first thing after getting off from the police vehicle is sitting in a queue on the compound in front of a second entrance.
“The call out the names to make sure everyone is there and then we were taken inside a room, which they called Amdani (new arrivals) room. An attendance call was made again before the prison guards left us there,” said one of the students, who asked not to be named.
Money makes it happen inside prison
Immediately after the prison guards left, two men entered the room, said another student, who also preferred to remain anonymous.
“One of them told us, ‘You people are students, you can stay in here. It’s better for you stay in the wards. You will be able to take and everything else. It will cost Tk 5,000’.
“We had heard that anything is possible in jail if you can spend the right amount. So we decided to take the deal and managed to cut it down to Tk 4,500 per person. That’s for the first week, the next weeks would cost Tk 2,000,” he said.
According to him, when they said they had no cash on them, the men said it was no big deal and they can pay the next day when the family members come to visit.
“As we were about to close the deal, the prison guards entered the room and drove them away. It’s then we understood that the men came to rip us off. We did not have to pay anything.”
Jail wards
“We (the 22 students) were divided into groups of three to four and sent to different wards. Spending the night with other inmates was quite an experience,” said an East West University student, who asked not to be named.
“After washing ourselves, we ate and were told that we have to get up early in the morning to attend a place what they call ‘case table’, where officials will record our details. We slept on blankets and had to get up at 4am.”
The first thing the next day was being escorted to a room, where prison officials recorded their details, including photos, he said.
“This was the ‘case table’ where ‘case cards’ for prisoners are made ... we had to strip, so that officials can take notes of marks on our bodies.”
After the official procedures the prison superintendent came, he said.

“We were surprised as well as assured as the superintendent was very polite with us. He told us, ‘This is an unusual scenario, but I guess you will be not here for long. In the meantime, we will try to provide you with best possible facilities’. In fact, it was very reassuring,” he said.

They then returned to the wards only to be taken to the room for new arrivals once again, where they had to wait until 4pm that day.

Life in 4/6 Padma
The 22 students were then taken to Ward 6 on level 4 of the Padma, one of the several buildings inside the prison to house inmates.
“They call it 4/6 Padma and this where we spend the next days is prison,” said the East West University student.
Not all of them were housed in the ward. “Three were sent to the hospital ward. We did not see them during our days in jail,” said another student.
He said the room they were in were divided in two sections— one for them and the other for the regular inmates.
“There was not enough space to sleep. You can just lay your body and can’t even move,” he said before adding that night they had to eat prison food as they could not buy anything from the store inside the building without a PC (prison corner) card.
Inside prison, PC cards serve as debit cards by banks.
“If anyone deposits money for against the card, it can be used to buy food and other things from the store at the corner of the building, but only once a day,” he said.
Daily chores inside jail
The first order of the day for inmates is the early morning ‘file’— counting of prisoners.
“We had to get up very early in the morning and frankly, none of us were early risers,” said an East West University student.
He said they had to sit in queue until the prison guards finished the counting.
“The counting ended around 5:30am when the cells were opened and inmates were free to roam inside the building. We used to get back to sleep after the ‘file’,” he said.
“But that too for until 8am, because after that the loudspeakers went live with announcements.”
Prisoners are allowed outside on the grounds for two hours from 3pm.
“There were two pitches one for football and the other for cricket. You can meet inmates from other buildings during this time, but you have to go back inside by 5pm,” said one of the students.
Southeast University Iktidier Hossain said he used to play cricket to take his mind off the situation.
“I can forget everything when I am in a match, I spent the whole day playing cricket inside prison. Besides that, the guards let you go outside, if you say you have a match,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Hossain, however, said it was tough to take a bath. “A lot of people bathe together and it was tough to fetch water from the tank in the crowd. But the last two days, the superintendent made special arrangements for us.”
The students said that chitchat were the only way to pass time inside cells.
“Someone brought a deck of cards from the store that helped us. We used to watch television, but only BTV. But if you have a memory card loaded with movies or TV series, that can be watched on the TVs,” said one student.
According to them, the prisoners always told them that prison was “a different territory with different rules”.
“They used code languages, like mobile means ashtray, kitchen is ‘chowka’,” said one of the students.
“No one is allowed to sit up after 11pm and the lights were kept on. It was tough in the beginning, but later on we coped with sleeping with the lights on.
Food from the BNP
The students said that many inmates came to meet with them.
“The quota reformists and 15 others who were arrested (over the road safety protest) before us came and met us. People from several political parties also met us,” said one of the students.
They were taken aback on the second day, when a BNP leader sent food for them through an inmate, a retired army major, he said. “We accepted it as a courtesy, but said we have enough food.”
Cell inspection
Once in a week, prison officials inspect the cell.
“The rooms were neat and clean that day, or else it was always a mess. Everything were dragged to corner and covered by cloth.
“The prisoners had to stand with their standard issues in front — a plate, a mug and a blanket as well as the case card,” said a student.
Nine of them were released on Aug 19 on bail while the rest the next day.

Also Read: Dreadful days in custody: ‘We panicked whenever we heard footsteps’