Renaming not enough: Officials, academics, lawyers call for structural reforms of prisons

Senior prison officials, academics, lawyers, and researchers stressed the need for structural reforms to shift Bangladesh's correction system from punishment to rehabilitation. 

At a panel discussion at the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in the capital's Banglamotor today (25 September), they argued that cosmetic changes such as renaming prisons would not suffice without addressing deep-rooted systemic issues.

The event titled "From Colonial Prisons to Correction Services: Genuine Reform or Cosmetic Shift?" was organised by the DECage Initiative and moderated by Supreme Court lawyer Zahirul Islam Musa.

However, Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Motaher Hossain argued that renaming the prison system was not a cosmetic exercise but part of a larger vision to move from punishment to rehabilitation. 

"Unless the fundamental issues of prisons are solved, existing problems will continue to repeat. The name change is linked to transforming the system into a rehabilitation-based service," he said. 

Motaher Hossain added that efforts were underway to make prisons cashless to prevent the commercialisation of services and to establish a central prison hospital.

Additional Inspector General of Prisons Col Mohammad Mostafa Kamal highlighted staffing and infrastructure shortages. 

"In an ideal system, there should be one staff member for every three inmates. In Bangladesh, the ratio is one to nine," he noted. 

Mostafa said food allocations had been increased from 36 grams of protein per day to 54 grams, and that 800 new staff had been recruited in recent years, though shortages persist.

Mohammad Shahjahan Qureshi, research advisor at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), emphasised a gradual reform process. 

"Privatisation risks increasing inmate demand rather than solving the problem," he warned, adding that both prisons and society share responsibility for recidivism.

Touhidul Haque, an associate professor at Dhaka University, called for solutions suited for the local context. "Copying foreign models blindly will worsen the crisis. We need to address our context-specific problems," he said, stressing psychological support for new or released inmates.

Oxford fellow Sabiha Mehjabeen Oishi raised the issue of overcrowding and proposed a different approach. "For non-violent offenders, private correctional facilities could be a viable option to ease pressure on the system," she suggested.

Wrapping up, moderator Zahirul said prison reform requires not only legislative and administrative changes but also a shift in social attitudes toward incarceration and rehabilitation.