Technical training centres to be set up at 10 jails: minister

LAHORE: Technical training centres in collaboration with Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) will be established at 10 jails of the province.

This was stated by Caretaker Home Minister Shaukat Javed during his visit to Lahore District Jail on Thursday. He said the Punjab Prisons Department served as an executing arm of criminal justice system. Medical equipment, including X-Ray machine, ECG, ultrasound machine, worth Rs 144 million will be procured for the prisoners.

New district jails will be constructed in Chiniot, Nankana Sahib, Khushab, Chakwal, Lahore and Rawalpindi. The judicial lock-ups at Gojra, Pindi Ghaib, Musa Virk and Kot Addu will be converted into sub-jails soon, he said.

IG Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig briefed the minister that Punjab Prisons Department had 41 prisons, among them, were nine central Jails, 26 district jails, two sub-jails and four special jails. He said the staff was getting training from NAPA, Pakistan Army and Punjab Police. He said effective accountability of the staff was being done through initiation disciplinary proceedings. He said the department had responded promptly to the threats of terrorism in the past by training and equipping its personnel with modern arms and ammunition. He said cellular jammers had been installed in 30 high-risk prisons to eliminate the use of mobile on the jail premises. Eight more jammers would also be installed in the current fiscal year, he added.

Similarly, installation of integrated security surveillance solution at 17 high-risk prisons has been completed while it will be installed at the remaining 24 prisons in the current fiscal year. He said the prisoners were classified according to their gender, age, type of offence and the stage of trial.

The IG Prisons said that prisoners were getting religious, formal and vocational education. Vocational training centres have been established at 15 Jails where training is imparted to the inmates so that they could earn living after their release.

Mirza Shahid Baig said that Rs 90million were allocated for the provision of free-of-cost health facilities to the prisoners last year. The complaint and enquiry branch is established at Inspectorate of Prisons to deal with disciplinary cases of Punjab Prisons Department staff. A helpline, 1124, has also been established to redress the grievances and complaints of the general public. Later, the minister inspected the different sections of the District Jail and inquired from the prisoners about the facilities being given to them by the administrations. He showed his satisfaction with regard to provision of the facilities to the prisoners.