Punjab jails to get modern security equipment: CM

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said on Sunday that modern security equipment would be installed in Punjab jails.

Presiding over a meeting to review jail reforms, the chief minister said ten X-ray scanning machines, fourteen metal detectors and fifty walkthrough gates would be installed in the jails. He said that a separate jail would be built for female prisoners in Faisalabad while a borstal institute would be established for juvenile criminals in Sahiwal. The CM also ordered the construction of new barracks in 11 prisons in the province.

Mr Elahi said a programme had been started to provide better medical facilities to prisoners and funds for the programme had been increased four times. He issued instructions for medical checkups and separate medical files of all prisoners to eliminate tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Mr Elahi directed authorities to provide 16 jails with ambulances to transport sick prisoners to hospitals. He said pathology laboratories and small operation theatres would also be set up in jails. He said medical officers would be appointed on contract in jails.

Mr Elahi also directed the authorities to set up a separate ward in the Institute of Mental Health in Lahore for the treatment and rehabilitation of mentally ill prisoners. He ordered them to give prisoners a balanced diet and fresh food. He said that vocational training institutes would be set up in the central jails of Multan and Faisalabad where courses on clinical assistance, computer, radio, television, plumbing and electricity will be conducted for prisoners that would help them become useful and law-abiding members of society.

Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, Prisons Inspector General Pervaiz Rahim Rajpoot, Home Secretary Brigadier (r) Ejaz Shah, the finance secretary and other senior officers attended the meeting. —Staff Report

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