SP of a prison about a raid in advance, but notified the SP as a courtesy when commencing
the raid. The SP in charge of this unit had the power to assign officers from one prison to
conduct raids in another prison. Any banned items that were confiscated during raids along
with a list of the items so confiscated were given to the SP of the prison if the raid was
conducted upon the request of the SP. The confiscated items and the list were given to the
police/CID if the raid was requested by such authority, and a copy of the list was also given
to the SP of the relevant prison. The cash seized during such raids was credited to the state
account, and the drugs and phones handed over to the relevant police station through the
SP of Intelligence and Defence Unit. The police conduct an inquiry and prosecute the
prisoner if contraband, such as drugs, was found in the possession of such prisoner and the
drugs were handed over to the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (hereinafter
referred to as NDDCB). This unit was disbanded on 26 July 2018 and normal prison officers
were assigned to perform the duties previously performed by the Unit. The Special Task
Force (hereinafter referred to as STF) of police was assigned to certain prisons, such as
ACP, to perform the duties of Bandha Police officers. Eventually, the unit was reconstituted
and is currently functioning in several prisons.
6. Conditions of detention and daily routine of prisoners
6.1.
The living spaces
There are two types of areas for the accommodation of prisoners - wards and cells. A ward
is a large hall where multiple prisoners are detained, and some prisoners mark their
sleeping space on the floor with water cans or empty bottles. These marked spaces are
known as ‘borders’ in prison parlance.
The second kind of space are cells which are designed for individual prisoners but
currently house between three to eight prisoners in most prisons due to overcrowding.
There are cells which are designated “special” and are used to detain individual prisoners
who are thought to be high security prisoners, or whose lives maybe under threat, for
example due to death threats from rival gangs. In some prisons, individual cells are used as
punishment cells to detain inmates who commit disciplinary offences, while some prisons
have separate punishment cells.
6.2.
The general structure of a prison ward
Usually a normal ward has one entrance, while a ward with cells has individual iron doors
for each cell and one iron gate at the entrance to the ward. Some wards have a TV placed in
a common area of the ward, such as the corridor in between the cells of a ward with cells.
The belongings of the prisoners are either kept in plastic bags on the floor of the ward close
to the wall or hanged from the iron grill of the walls. There might be, on rare occasions, one
or more ceiling fan/s or rotating fan/s in wards. The toilets and bathing areas are available
in the wards, i.e. often at the end of the ward, but almost always not available in individual
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