XV Edition GIZ Law Journal

BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH

prisons have already appointed a focal person from the project to supervise the work of rehabilitation inside prison. “The first step is to make sure that the cases of prisoners get appropriate and timely legal assistance; the second is to invest in skills they can use in the outside world and to provide support for meaningful reintegration into society. Many of them are lost once they leave prison, face stigma, non-acceptance by society, cannot find gainful employment and are forced into reoffending”, said Promita Sengupta, Head of the Rule of Law Programme and Principal Advisor of IRSOP. Through the National Workshop “We have not forgotten you – Pathways for Rehabilitation”, IRSOP has successfully brought many relevant actors from NGO and government side as well as from the private sector on board to jointly embark on the new challenge of rehabilitation.

released prisoners as part of the IRSOP Project. The workshop focused on various aspects of rehabilitation of prisoners, i.e. the need for developing skills or the treatment of substance abuse, so that after they are being released, they can make a living and for those who were addicts, avoid to fall back into acquisitive crime The rehabilitation of prisoners and ex-prisoners is a relatively new topic in Bangladesh: Although there have been initiatives for skills development inside prison or drug treatment institutions working with released prisoners, there had not been a concerted effort for corrective or rehabilitative measures for people who have been in prison until the workshop. In a Strategic Plan for the Department of Prisons, the Ministry of Home Affairs and GIZ together have detected the need for skills training to ensure reintegration and as a result reduce recidivism. The

©Rule of Law Programme/GIZ Bangladesh Picture Subtitle: Opening Speeches

inception in 2008, awaiting their trials outside prison or being acquitted from accusation. However, “a significant number of ex-prisoners re-engage in criminal activities after they are released due to a lack of proper rehabilitation facilities and failure to reintegrate into the society”, said Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin, Inspector General of Prisons. This would also be a reason for the overcrowding in prisons. Ex-prisoners regularly face various difficulties after their release, be it the stigmatization by their community, homelessness, exclusion, health problems or a drug addiction which is not cured. With no work and hardly any chances to get work, with their family and community avoiding them, a release from prison often means another harsh slap by reality. In their desperation and poverty, re-offence is many times their only way to survive and the way straight back into prison – a vicious cycle. In order to discuss how former prisoners and their families have a chance for reintegration into society, IRSOP has organized a multi-stakeholder workshop on May 6-7, 2014, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The two-day workshop titled, “We have not forgotten you – Pathways for Rehabilitation of Prisoners” was arranged to build effective partnerships for a sustainable rehabilitation process of inmates and

In Bangladesh, the legal principle Innocent until proven guilty might be valid on paper, but the reality often draws a gloomy picture for someone imprisoned and under trial. Bangladesh’s prisons are significantly overcrowded. Prisons shelter people double their capacity. According to Mustaq Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 65,662 people were in prisons at the end of March 2014, whereas the official capacity stands at 34,167. “Around 69% of all prisoners are on trial at the moment, against just 31% of convicts”, Mustaq Ahmed said. Sometimes their pre-trial time in prison exceeds their eventual sentences. In addition, all too many cases get acquitted and a lot of people leave prison being judged innocent. “Only bad people should be in prison, not innocent people. In Bangladesh, a lot of innocent people are in prison. That is wrong!” Richard Miles, Principal Advisor, Justice and Prison Reform Project, GIZ The first step to tackle the overcrowding has been successfully undertaken by the Project ‘Improvement of the Real Situation of Overcrowding in Prisons in Bangladesh (IRSOP)’. With the help of IRSOP, 3,436 under-trial prisoners who were unnecessarily imprisoned could be released since the project’s

Picture subtitle: Paralegals heading into prison. The so-called paralegals support the cases of under-trial prisoners by enhancing collaboration between the relevant actors of the Criminal Justice System. The work of the paralegals as contributed to the early release of almost 3,500 detainees since the project’s inception in 2008.

©Rule of Law Programme/GIZ Bangladesh

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional y Desarollo (AECID) from Spain have commissioned GIZ to carry out the IRSOP project, in partnership with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Home Affairs and the Prison Directorate. Since the project was launched in 2008, the project is successfully reducing overcrowding through supporting the work of the most important actors of Bangladesh’s Criminal Justice System, who are supported since 2009 by so-called ‘paralegals. It grants its support through a partnership with renowned NGOs, i.e. the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), BRAC, Madaripur Legal Aid Association (MLAA), and others.

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