Gazipur: President Abdul Hamid on Tuesday asked the prison authorities to take stern actions so that any prisoner can either take drug or run drug business inside jail.

‘A large number of detainees in prison are imprisoned for drug related cases. Prison authorities have to take stern actions so that addict or drug peddlers cannot take either drug or run drug business in prison. Strong surveillance is needed so that none from prison administration can involve with these unethical activities. We have to keep in mind that the all responsibilities of a detainee go to prison authorities as soon as he/she enters there,’ he said.  

The President said this while addressing a programme on the occasion of Prison Week-2018 at Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur district on Tuesday.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan,Liberation War MinisterAKM MozammelHaque, Security Services Division Secretary M Farid Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury  and Inspector General of Prison Brig General Syed Iftekhar Uddin were also present.

Observing that no man in the world was born as criminal, President Hamid said various unfavorable environments make them criminals. Prison authorities have to take specific programmes for the criminals to create moral values and rehabilitate them through providing various trainings, he said.

Pointing at the prison officials, he underscored the need for taking steps to correct the unacceptable characteristics of the prisoners to help them lead normal life.

Moreover, awareness has to create about the consequences of taking drugs. For the sake of security of the nation as well as for the country, you have to show firmness so that militants, top terrorists and drug peddlers cannot plan to carry out militant or terrorist activities inside jail, he said.

The various activities of Bangladesh Jail and the effortsof reducing crime tendency of the detainees have received applause from the people, said the President, adding, ‘Specially, the aim of the efforts to give trainings to the detainees is to transform the hands of detainees into a skilled one. It is a time befitting decision to pay 50 percent of the profits to the detainees earned from selling products produced in jail industry.’

He also said on completion of punishment,the detainees are getting opportunities to be rehabilitated in the society by getting knowledge from the jail industry and the money received from the profit. It will help reduce the tendency of committing crime repeatedly.

President Hamid also hailed the decision to introduce mobile phone booth for prisoners to talk with their family over phone to ensuretheir mental health.

All these steps will help them return in normal life, he opined.