The government has issued a regulation allowing female prisoners to enjoy special privileges after 13 years of passage of the relevant law by parliament.
Female convicts would be able to enjoy special privileges including release on parole from jail under certain conditions as per the regulation.
The Ministry of Social Welfare issued a gazette with the regulation titled 'The Special Privileges for Jailed Women Convict Regulations -2020" on January 28, 2020.
A national or district committee would consider nine issues to allow the female prisoners to enjoy the special privileges.
The female prisoners will be allowed to enjoy, under certain conditions, other privileges including training with scholarships and rehabilitation after release from prison.
Due to absence of the regulation, the provisions of the law have remained unimplemented since 2006.
As per the law, a female convict will have to serve 50 per cent of her sentence period to be eligible to apply for the special privileges.
However, women convicts who are serving death and life sentences or convicted for anti-state activities will not be entitled to the privileges.
Women prisoners account for 10 or 15 per cent of the total prisoners.
According to Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), there are 2,217 women prisoners in 18 prisons, including the central jails in the all divisions, as of January 31, 2020.
Rabiul Hassan, Capacity Building Coordinator of BLAST, said 10 per cent of the women prisoners are usually accompanied by their children.
"Most of the women convicts are victims of circumstances who were sentenced as a part of group members," he said.
The BLAST works with support from Germany-based GIZ for prisoners.
As per the regulation, signed by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare Shibany Bhattacharya, women prisoners accompanied by children, those with children at home, those physically unfit or ill, those physically challenged will be examined and their educational qualification, age, socio-economic conditions and some other issues will be considered to provide them with the special privileges.
The ministry has issued a dozen of forms to be given to prisoners or the probation officers concerned, on behalf of women convicts, to apply for the special privileges and related purposes.
Under the regulation, the special privileges for women convicts would be scrapped in case of violation of the conditions under parole and they will be sent back to jail again.
The government will assign some probation officers to look into the issue and recommend the national or district committee to allow or cancel the special privileges.
Women convicts jailed from one year up to 10 years or above have to apply in the different prescribed forms of the government.
The probation officer will conduct some 14 types of training with stipend including handicrafts, cooking, hair cutting, block and boutique, needle work, graphic design, web design for the women convicts under the regulation.
The officer would monitor and supervise the privileged prisoners in every 15 days for the first two months and later as per conditions for the respective convicts and keep the information in their (convicts) respective files.
In line with the recommendations of the national or district committee, the Ministry of Home Affairs will issue administrative order allowing the special privileges for a convict.
Officials at the Ministry of Social Welfare said issuance of the regulation took longer period to make it aligned with the current context.
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