2,162 death-row inmates: HC wants to know their living conditions
The High Court today sought a report from the government on the living conditions of the 2,162 death-row inmates at prisons across the country.
The court ordered the inspector general of prisons to submit a report describing the regular arrangement taken for condemned cell prisoners, including the conditions of ventilation, washrooms, and sleeping facilities, before it by April 4.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Ahmed Sohel passed the order during the hearing of a writ petition challenging the legality of keeping death-row convicts in condemned cells before their cases are finally disposed of by the Appellate Division.
The court set April 4 for passing further orders on the petition.
Earlier in the day, Khondoker Shahriar Shakir, lawyer for IG Prisons, submitted a report from prisons authorities to the HC bench saying a total of 2,162 death-row convicts were in condemned cells of prisons across the country till November 1 last year.
Among them, 2,512 are male and 145 female, according to the report prepared by Additional Inspector General of Prisons Sheikh Sujaur Rahman.
The death-row convicts are provided with food on a diet scale, fixed clothes, regular treatment service, arrangements for meeting with relatives and lawyers, religious education, books and newspapers, biri or cigarettes, bathing facilities, and exercising facilities at the cell yards, the additional inspector general of prisons said in the report.
During the hearing, writ petitioners' lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir told the HC bench that there is no mention in the IG Prisons' report about the conditions of ventilation, washroom, and sleeping facilities for the death row convicts in the condemned cells.
Three death row convicts filed the petition with the HC in September 2021. They urged the HC to order prison authorities to transfer them to normal cells.
Following the petition, the HC on April 4 last year issued a rule questioning the legality of the jail code provision that allows keeping death row convicts in condemned cells before their cases are disposed of by the court.