713 foreigners still in jail after serving terms

In addition, 734 foreigners are in the jails -- 258 of them are convicts and the rest are under-trial prisoners.

The figures were revealed at the eighth meeting of the cabinet committee on jail reforms yesterday. Law Minister Moudud Ahmed presided over the meeting.

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The Foreign Office has been asked to take initiatives to send the foreign prisoners who have completed their sentences to their countries, meeting sources said.

After the meeting, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told the journalists that the government has started acquiring 200 acres of land at Tegharia in Keraniganj to relocate the Dhaka Central Jail.

The relocation of the jail would be completed during the tenure of the present governmnt, he said.

The project concept paper will be prepared within the next three months and it will be placed before the Executive Committee for National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

The minister said construction of two thirds of the Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur have been completed. The jail would accommodate 1,500 inmates. A separate jail for women prisoners will also be set up inside the Kashimpur Jail complex.

He said Tk 47 crore has been allocated for reconstruction of different jails and expansion of existing jails.

At present, there are 72,000 inmates in the country's 66 jails with a capacity of only 25,000, meeting sources said.

The Dhaka Central Jail has a capacity of 2,650 inmates, but it now holds 11,500 detainees and convicts.

The meeting also discussed setting up video linkage for conducting trials inside the jails.

The minister said a committee headed by secretary of the public works held 11 meetings to review the Jail code of 1894.

The government has also asked the authority to fill up 111 posts for Kashimpur Jail.

Home Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury, Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas, Home Secretary Mohammad Omar Farooq, and IG (Prison) Brigadier General Zillur Rahman attended the meeting.