The VIP prisoners being provided with all the perks
Thursday, 20 November 2008
A few days ago it came to light that policemen guarding the VIP prisoners in jail were providing those august citizens with all the perks they could possibly deliver. Those prisoners, it was reported, got to meet the people they wanted to meet, from relatives to cronies, without any interference from the jail authorities, eat food cooked at home instead of the jail diet which is not all that bad because these prisoners have got division. But the best part was they could speak to just about anyone over the mobile phone which was provided to them by the guards. All these things were going on clandestinely behind the backs of the senior jail authorities.
The reports in the papers also said that these extra facilities served to those important prisoners, all in gaol because of real or imagined graft, in exchange of real money. Twenty-eight of those security personnel-all cops-were suspended from duty immediately while the authorities took a closer look at what else was afoot.
All this may sound to some people as a real discovery but it is not. What goes inside the jails is far from what innocent citizens imagine. Sure, most of the convicts live a life of veritable hell. Most prisons here are impossibly crowded, conditions are unhygienic, comfort is the furthest thing there is, the food is mostly inedible to the uninitiated and sexual assaults are commonplace.
But many prisoners, from these ex-ministers and ex-MPs to top criminals serving time get more or less what they want, from food to drugs. Anyone can speak over the mobile phones if they can arrange payment for it. This is the truth.
The authorities have a two-fold job-one is to make sure that those with money do not get their way (which might be perceived as next to impossible because there is something about money which corrupts) and the other is to make the stay of the prisoners more humane.
Kamrun Nahar
Dhanmondi Residential Area, Dhaka
The reports in the papers also said that these extra facilities served to those important prisoners, all in gaol because of real or imagined graft, in exchange of real money. Twenty-eight of those security personnel-all cops-were suspended from duty immediately while the authorities took a closer look at what else was afoot.
All this may sound to some people as a real discovery but it is not. What goes inside the jails is far from what innocent citizens imagine. Sure, most of the convicts live a life of veritable hell. Most prisons here are impossibly crowded, conditions are unhygienic, comfort is the furthest thing there is, the food is mostly inedible to the uninitiated and sexual assaults are commonplace.
But many prisoners, from these ex-ministers and ex-MPs to top criminals serving time get more or less what they want, from food to drugs. Anyone can speak over the mobile phones if they can arrange payment for it. This is the truth.
The authorities have a two-fold job-one is to make sure that those with money do not get their way (which might be perceived as next to impossible because there is something about money which corrupts) and the other is to make the stay of the prisoners more humane.
Kamrun Nahar
Dhanmondi Residential Area, Dhaka