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Department of Prisons

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Brig Gen Syed Md Motaher Hossain, NDC, PSC
Role
Inspector General of Prisons
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1971
Legal basis
The Prisons Act, 1894 (Act No. IX of 1894), as adopted by Bangladesh post-independence; The Jail Code, 1920 (internal regulations under the 1894 Act). A draft Correction Services Act, 2025 has been finalised by the Directorate and forwarded for government approval but has not yet been enacted.

The Department of Prisons is in an active reform phase under IG Brig Gen Motaher Hossain (in post since 11 August 2024): the draft Correction Services Act, 2025 is pending Home Ministry and cabinet approval; the institutional rename to 'Correction Services Bangladesh' was announced August 2025 but not yet gazetted; the 68 prisons hold approximately 83,000 inmates against a 42,459 capacity (roughly 196% occupancy) with over 81% pre-trial, making overcrowding the dominant operational crisis; 700 July-uprising escapees remain at large; the September 2025 merger of the two Home Ministry divisions has not altered the Directorate's chain of command in practice.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

The Department of Prisons operates under the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Following the Cabinet Division gazette of 3 September 2025, the SSD and Public Security Division are now under a single Home Ministry secretary, but the SSD continues as the named administrative parent for attached departments including Prisons, Immigration and Passports, Fire Service and Civil Defence, and Narcotics Control. The official website prison.gov.bd confirms the current IG. The Khulna Division prison portal (prison.khulna.gov.bd) published the announcement of Brig Gen Syed Md Motaher Hossain, NDC, PSC taking charge as IG on 11 August 2024, confirmed as the appointment date. The established_year is set to 1971 (Bangladesh independence); the department traces its institutional lineage to the colonial Prisons Act, 1894 and is among the departments inherited at independence, but has not had a separate founding act post-1971. The draft Correction Services Act, 2025 would, if enacted, replace the 1894 Act as the legal basis. Overcrowding figures: 83,107 inmates against 42,459 capacity (World Prison Brief / Bonikbarta, October 2025 data), occupancy ~196%; 81.3% pre-trial -- cited figures are from the Prisons Directorate and World Prison Brief (Birkbeck College), cross-checked with Justice Audit Bangladesh. Annual budget and total sanctioned staff count are not published in disaggregated form in open sources; staff_count and budget fields are left null to avoid fabrication. The 1,899 approved posts figure is from the August 2025 press briefing (BSS/TBS coverage) and reported consistently across multiple outlets.

Sources