Bangladesh mulls release of 3,000 prisoners amid coronavirus

Bangladesh government is likely to release 3,000 prisoners to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"We are discussing the matter with related authorities. No final decision has been made yet," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told The Business Standard today.

Earlier, the jail authorities sent a list of the prisoners, who can be granted bail considering the level of their crimes, to the Home Ministry.

Mahbubul Islam, the jailer of Dhaka Central Jail, said, "We sent a list of 1,200 prisoners to the jail authorities."

There are more than 90,000 inmates in the country – at least three times more population than the capacity of the prisons.

Public health specialists expressed concerns that prisoners could contract coronavirus due to unhealthy and overpopulated living conditions.  

Of the country's 68 prisons, only five of them have thermal scanners. Measuring body temperature to detect coronavirus infection is important, but this is neglected in the prisons across the country.