Three isolation centers with a 93-bed capacity were inaugurated for the first time in Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, Feni District Jail-2, and Kishoreganj District Jail-2 on Sunday.
The isolation centres – a 70-bed one in Keraniganj, another 41-bed one in Feni as well as 28-bed one in Kishoreganj, were built with the cooperation of International Committee of the Red Cross, the Prisons Directorate Division of Bangladesh and Health Ministry, said a press release.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan inaugurated the centres as the chief guest through the digital platform zoom while Md Mokabbir Hossain, secretary of the security services division at home ministry, Brigadier General Md Mominur Rahman Mamun, Inspector General of Prisons, and Katja Lorenz, the ICRC Head of Delegation in Bangladesh, Henning Krause, Protection Coordinator in Bangladesh, participated in the inaugural ceremony.
After the Covid-19 pandemic’s devastating effects on prisoners and staff in overcrowded jails, the ICRC decided to support the Prisons Directorate in Bangladesh to build the centers to mitigate the risk of the spread of coronavirus.
Brigadier General Md Mominur said, “The Prisons Directorate has been consistently working since the beginning of the pandemic to develop an efficient and comprehensive system to prevent the spread of Covid-19 inside prisons.”
“We would like to applaud Home Ministry, Health Ministry, and ICRC to build the isolation centres to facilitate the prisoners and prisons staff amid the Covid-19 pandemic situation,” he said.
Katja Lorenz, the ICRC Head of Delegation in Bangladesh, said, “Our support included basic medical and sanitation equipment as well as setting isolation centres in 68 jails will be continued.”
The ICRC continues supporting the Prisons Directorate in its efforts to mitigate the risk of the spread of Covid-19 by donating Personal Protective Equipment to selected prisons, according to Katja Lorenz.
We have taken decision to donate for building isolation centres to all 68 prisons across Bangladesh to tackle the covid-19 pandemic, said Katja Lorenz.
