The government of Bangladesh is considering the construction of a special security prison for prisoners on the death-row and other dangerous prisoners.

At present, 655 prisoners condemned to death are languishing indifferent prisons across the country because there are only 53 condemned cells in the prisons and each of these cells is made for accommodating one prisoner only, The New Age reported Saturday.

Speedy disposal of criminal cases is leading to conviction of a huge number of accused, awarding of death penalty to many hardened killers.

However, non-execution of the sentences due to slow disposal of the appeals of the convicts have caused the excessive number of prisoners on the death row.

According to sources in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, nine Speedy Trial Tribunals have disposed of 650 sensational cases since November 2002, when the tribunals started functioning, awarding death penalties to 311 convicts.

Since 2001, the sessions courts have awarded death sentences to123 convicts, but only 22 have been executed during the last four years.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the country, when a court of session passes a death sentence, the proceedings have to be submitted to the High Court and the sentence cannot be executed unless it is confirmed by the High Court.

Source: Xinhua