Chittagong Central Jail

Chattogram Central Jail (Bengali: চট্টগ্রাম কেন্দ্রীয় কারাগার) is a central jail located on the eastern side of Lal Dighi, Chittagong^[1] in Bangladesh.^[2][3] It is the second largest prison in the country by number of inmates.^[4][5]

Chattogram Central Jail

Chattogram Central Jail gate in 2024
Location	East side of Laldighi, Kotwali Thana
Status	22.337186°N 91.839458°E / 22.337186; 91.839458
Security class	Maximum
Opened	1885 (1885)
Former name	Chittagong Central Jail
Managed by	Bangladesh Jail
City	Chittagong
Country	Bangladesh
Website	prison.chittagong.gov.bd

History

Image of the memorial plaque at the place where Surya Sen was hanged.

The jail was established in 1885 as Chittagong District Jail. Later, it was upgraded as Chittagong Central Jail on 16 September 1999 after the independence of Bangladesh.^[6][7]

On 12 January 1934, Masterda Surya Sen, a revolutionary of the anti-British movement and one of his associates, Tarakeswar Dastidar, were hanged by the British in this Jail.^[8]

Infrastructure and capacity

The total area of Chattogram Central Jail is 16.87 acres.^[8][9] The detention capacity here is 1753 people. But there are 9,000 prisoners on average.^[10][11] In 1998, Bangladesh government constructed 6 prison buildings with 5 floors and one cell building with 2 floors namely Padma, Meghna, Yamuna, Karnaphuli, Halda, Sangu.^[10][11] There are various buildings and infrastructures for the convenience of inmates and prison guards.^[12] It also has 100 bedded hospital, security cell, male condom cell, DIG prison building, officers quarter etc.^[8]