After a recent cabinet committee meeting on jail reforms, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed told newspersons that the authorities started acquisition of 200 acres to construct the Keraniganj jail for 8,000 on-trial prisoners.

Earlier, a jail was built for 200 convicts at Kashimpur in Gazipur and some inmates were shifted from Dhaka. Another jail for 300 women convicts is under construction in Kashimpur.

Yet another jail for 1,500 convicts is under construction in Kashimpur, and Tk 126 crore has been approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) for that, but only Tk 57 crore has been disbursed.

"Although the work is going on at a slow pace, we have already accommodated 50 convicts transferred from Dhaka Central Jail. The prime minister will inaugurate the new building after Eid-ul-Fitr," a jail official said.

Dhaka Central Jail is crammed with over 11,500 prisoners, more than four times in excess of its capacity of 2,650.

According to the jail code, a prisoner must have 36 square feet inside a cell and another 36 square feet free space should be left for movement.

"The cells are now used only for sleeping," the official said.

Dhaka Central Jail accommodates three categories of prisoners: on-trial prisoners, convicts and prisoners in detention.

"About 6,000 prisoners are currently awaiting trial and about 4,500 are convicts," said a source at Dhaka Central Jail.

Dhaka Central Jail is situated on 25 acres. It was established in Dhaka in 1826 on a side of the old fort of Islam Khan Chisti who became the governor of Bangla in 1610 and established its capital here. The jail hospital now only bears traces of the old fort.

The government has been planning to shift the prisoners from the historic place since independence. Several plans have passed through ages, but almost all fell flat.

Removing prisoners from the central jail will pave the way for conservation of a historic monument.