JAIL SITUATION IN BANGLADESH AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE PRISON HEALTH

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JAIL SITUATION IN BANGLADESHAN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL
OVER-VIEW OF THE PRISON HEALTH
Training Workshop on Human Rights Strategy to
prevent Torture 22 - 25 April 2006, WVA
Auditorium Organized by Center for
Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors (CRTS)
Dr. Mohd. Abdul Matin Executive
Director Health Research Rights Foundation,
Bangladesh (HRRF)
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01. Introduction
Bangladesh

• Distorted Humanity 
• Violation of civil rights 

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01. Introduction
Bangladesh

• Violence- a common procedure
• Social terrorists
• Armed political cadres
• Women child traffickers cum abusers
• Religious fundamentalists
• State machinery

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01. Introduction
Bangladesh

• Victims
• Women
• Children
• Laborers
• Students
• Prisoners
• Detainees
• Common people

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02.Territorial background
Bangladesh

• Population 852 persons per square kilometer
• Poor economy US 377 per capita income
• Low literacy rate (48)

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02.Territorial background
Bangladesh

• Scanty natural resources (mainly gas)
• Primitive industrialization
• Deep-seated corruption

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02.Territorial background
Bangladesh

• Administrative mismanagement
• Social injustices
• Historical Inheritance From
• a. British Pakistani colonial rule

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02.Territorial background
Bangladesh

• b. Direct or indirect army rule
• c. No Democracy accountability- autocratic role
• d. Dependence on Police-Incredible torturer

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03. Jails in Bangladesh
03.a. General impressions

• Extreme discomfort
• Sufferings
• Distress
• Torture

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03.b. Basic Information on jails

• Table-01

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03.c. Categories of prisoners

• Table-02

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04. Backup contributors for the jails

• Table-03

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05. Living Conditions in jails

• 05.a. Capacity occupancy
• Average Picture from 17 Jails and one CMM Custody
• Table-04

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05.b. Congestion as per Jail Category

• Table-05

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05.c. Year wise congestion in 77 jails

• Table-06

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05.d. A spot picture of a particular month

• Table-07

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06. Physical conditions facilities in the jails
06.a. Accommodation

• Provision in Jail Code 36 sq feet
• Reality Minimum 2-3 times congestion
• Reducing the spaces for inmates to half or one
  third

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06.a. Accommodation

• Bad tool for punishment
• Financial benefits
• Cannot sleep simultaneously rotation basis

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06.a. Accommodation

• Sleep in sitting posture
• No pillow available - trunks
• Money decides who will sleep

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06.b. Aeration light

• Lack of proper ventilation
• Minimum airflow through the windows
• Lack of electric fan

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06.b. Aeration light

• Inadequate light
• High-powered bulb shines
• Hot Rooms- profuse sweating

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06.c. Water Supply

• Inadequate water supply
• Long queue for bath-venues
• Dhaka Central Jail (DCJ) - bath once a week

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06.d. Toilet facility

• Numbers lower than the requirement
• Dirty
• Full of foul smell

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06.d. Toilet facility

• Over flown with excreta
• Dried up due to lack of water supply
• Long queue - peak-use hours

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06.e. Kitchen arrangement

• Kitchens are small
• Poorly arranged
• Widely mismanaged
• Inadequate capacity

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06.f. Food Supply

• Bad dietary standard in amount quality
• Fresh food unimaginable
• Food - consumed by the sentries
• Always inadequate in amount

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06.f. Food Supply

• Mixed with grabbles, dirt, insects
• DCJ- Food prepared one - Distributed next day
• Food non-edible in all the jails
• Bread, molasses, pulse vegetables

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06.f. Food Supply

• District jail menu
• Breakfast Bread molasses 500-800 grams
• Lunch Hand made chapatti 2 some vegetables.
• Dinner Rice vegetables daily. Fish or meat
  once a week

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06.f.1. Diet as per Prisoners Class

• Table-08

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06.f.2 Improved diets

• Festival days
• 0.03 to 0.05 US per person
• No additional budget Fund diversion

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06.g Recreational activities

• No games, sports
• No cultural programs
• No books
• No religious activities
• No corrective procedures  

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06.g Recreational activities

• No vocational trainings
• No rehabilitative programs
• In Contrary
• Gambling existent in most of the jails  

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07. Disease Profile inside prisons

• Identical in all jails.
• Causes
• dietary
• nutritional
• infective
• environmental
• addictive

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07.a. Disease Profile Dietary

• Low quality quantity
• Deficiency- anaemia, glossitis, stomatitis

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07.b. Disease Profile Congestive Contact

• Infections (Skin VD)
• Scabies
• Fungal- tineasis ptyriasis versicolor
• Infective sores
• Dermatitis
• Eczematous lesions
• Gonococcal
• Syphilitic infections
• AIDS few among foreigners

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07.c. Disease Profile Genitourinary

• Urethritis
• Cervicitis
• Vaginitis
• Leucorrhoea

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07.d. Disease Profile Gastro-intestinal

• Helminthiasis
• Amoebic bacillary dysentery
• Chronic peptic ulcer
• Non-ulcerative dyspepsia
• Diarrhea
• Typhoid
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Haemorrhoids

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07.e. Disease Profile Vector borne

• No nets or repellants
• Malaria
• Filariasis

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07.f. Disease Profile Suffocative environment

• Low ventilation
• Tobacco smokes
• Exposure to much cold or heat
• Diseases Allergic Rhinitis,
• Bronchospasm Asthma

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07.g. Disease Profile Drug addicts

• Drugs available
• Alcohol
• Cannabis
• Pethidine
• Brown Sugar
• Phensidyl
• Opium
• Tobacco

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07.g. Disease Profile Drug addicts

• Drug trafficking syndicate inmates, sentries
  drug traders.
• Desperate Addicts
• Sniff own blood Cigarettes
• Swallow Cockroaches.

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07.h. Disease Profile Pre-existent Diseases

• Deterioration among DM, HTN, HD
• Inadequate monitoring
• Lack of proper medication
• Physical mental strain
• Less mobility
• Improper exercise
• Lack of recreation
• Optimum sleep
• Sudden unexplained deaths

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07.i. Disease Profile Stress disorders

• Headache
• Anxiety
• Poor sleep
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Irritability
• Fear

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07.i. Disease Profile Stress disorders

• Hallucination
• Sexual disturbances
• Suicidal tendency
• Introversion
• Violent attitude
• Drug addiction
• Reduced work ability

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08. Existing Prison Health Facilities

• Neglected inadequate.
• Total 1003 hospital beds for 46000 inmates (01
  45.86)
• No resident doctors paramedics
• Doctors are called in. Money is the factor

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08. Existing Prison Health Facilities

• Neglected inadequate.

• Rarely bad patients-referred to local hospitals
• Separate prison cell only Two hospitals
• Arrangement for female Nil. (Occasional visit
  )

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08.a. DCJ Hospital

• 100-bed hospital
• Only three doctors
• No professional nurses
• No modern instruments

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08.a. DCJ Hospital

• Hospital occupancy always double
• Genuine patients - few
• Fake patients paying doctors around US 60
  US 100

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08.a. DCJ Hospital

• Health card US 10
• Health card one weeks banana, green coconut,
  egg milk
• Prison cells influential or political
  prisoners can avail.

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09. Violence inside the prisons
09.a. violent welcome

• New prisoners received misbehavior, abuse and
  assault
• Damages personal morality self-respect
• Gives understanding non-prestigious captivity
• Psychosomatic torture

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09.b. Torture in confinement

• Authorized violence 
• Mainly by police inside the jails, Thana police
  custodies Interrogation cells
• Arrests, interrogations and approaches Torture
  appliances or methods

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09.b. Torture in confinement

• Punishments
• abuse
• slap
• blow
• beat
• kick
• whip
• water suffocation
• excess light on eyes
• iron bars (link-fetters, bar-fetters, cross bar
• fetters, handcuffs confinement without foods

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09.b. Torture in confinement

• Multiple stories of inhuman cruel stories of
  torture in media
• Jail Murders(Nov 75), Custodial torture on
  Yasmin(Aug 95), Shima(Oct 96), Rubel(?98) Nurul
  Absar(Aug 97), Tuhin (Dec 96), Manjila(July 97),
  Khairul (Nov 94), Nuruzzaman (June 97) so many.

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09.b.1 Police Actions on prisoners detainees

• Table-09 Acts of police other state forces

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09.b.2 Custodial Deaths Year wise

• Table-10 Year wise custodial deaths (including
  jails)

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09.c. Among themselves

• Inter-prisoner violence not uncommon
• Eruption of clashes among a greater number of
  inmates at least twice in last one decade.

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10. Safe Custody the imprisonment in disguise

• Entitlement
• Rescued from the illicit traffickers, or
• Remaining under threat of insecurities or
• Victims of disputed marriage or
• Raped or
• Injured or
• Mishandled or
• Arrested on doubt or
• Considered to be focal point in any disputes

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10. Safe Custody the imprisonment in disguise

• No separate or specially protected place
• Kept inside the jails
• They are to face agony of the worst jail
• Safety enjoyers(victims) are women children

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10. Safe Custody the imprisonment in disguise

• Average about 50 persons
• Some are detained for 14 years
• Most of them are deprived of their relatives
• Most of them are the sufferers of negligence

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11. Jail Administration an authority of violence
11.a. Best beneficiary the gloomy picture of

• Tight accommodation
• Poor diet
• Scanty water supply
• Ill-ventilation
• Unhygienic environment

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11. Jail Administration an authority of violence
11.a. Best beneficiary of the gloomy picture of

• Dirty toilet
• Drug abuse
• Lack of health care facility 
• Authorized violence etc are mainly exploited by
  the management staffs and securities.

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11.b. Jail Authority

• Only money can help any one.
• Protesters are to face the tortures
• Old age colonial mindset, attitude underlying
  corruptive views core theme

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11.b. Jail Authority

• Common components of Jail administration
• Lack of proper law
• Injustice
• Cruelty
• Corruption
• Mismanagement etc
• Over all jail situations Combined etiological
  contributor to the worst prison health.

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12. Jail Revolts

• Police crushed the last mutiny leaving 10
  prisoners shot-dead, 400 injured.
• Jail revolts took at least 70 lives after the
  liberation in 1971.
• Prisoners revolted en mass 1976, 1977, 1980,
  1990, 1991 1999.

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12. Jail Revolts

• Some of the prisoners escape
• Causes Unhealthy, repressive environment and
  existence of outdated conflicting laws.
• Over all Jail Reform required.

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13. Jail Reform

• A jail reform commission was constituted in 1978
  (Justice Munim)
• Commission submitted report in 1980  
• Basis all local and 17 foreign jails
• It suggested 500 reforms  
• Only 37 implemented so far in 25 years.

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14. Inference

• The approach of the prison management is punitive
  exploitative, not corrective at all.
• The over all attitude of the jail authorities is
  designed to damage the personality, health
  future of a prisoner.

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14. Inference

• In particular the living condition, environment,
  administration health care systems in the jails
  all together are the meticulous etiological
  contributor to the worst prison health condition.

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14. Inference

• For the better greater sake of public health,
  social justice, national development
  consolidation of democracy the prisons in
  Bangladesh need not only a fundamental reform but
  also a cultural revolution inside.

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