PESHAWAR, April 7: A new Central Jail Peshawar, 27 kilometres away from the city, will be completed in two years and the Communications and Works Department (C&W) will initiate the construction work on the proposed site in Jalozai area shortly after preparing a blueprint of the project.

Sources in C&W department, talking to Dawn here, said: “We have not yet finished the paperwork on the project. We have a plan to establish the new central prison on the patron of Adyala Jail with latest facilities to the prisoners.”

They said the government had purchased 360 kanals of land for prisoners and 132 kanals of land for the residential area. Primary schools for girls and boys would also be constructed in the premises, they added.

There would a capacity of 400 prisoners in the new location with separate blocks for males, females and juvenile prisoners, they maintained.

Inspector-General, Prison, Col Abdur Rauf, said the government had been planning to shift the over-crowded central jail Peshawar to some other locality since 1975. Twice sites for new central jail were identified and once even a land was purchased, but due to some compromises by the then governments the plans failed, he added.

First, the government had identified land for shifting of the central prison on Kohat Road and then a land in Azakhel area was purchased, but later a park was constructed on the land in Azakhel, which was a useless practice, he said.

He further said the central jail Peshawar was over-crowded as there were about 3,000 prisoners in the jail against the capacity of only 1,351.

In the Central Jail Peshawar, Col Abdur Rauf said, about 400 prisoner belonged to Mardan district and more or less 100 prisoners each were from Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi districts. After raising the status of the local jails in their respective areas burden on central jail would be automatically reduced, he opined.

“We have suggested to the provincial government to change the status of District Jail Mardan into central prison and I hope the provincial government will approve the plan,” he divulged.

The status of the sub-jails of Charsadda, he said, Nowshera and Swabi would also be changed into district jails as most of the prisoners in the central jail Peshawar hailed from these districts.

On a query, he admitted that during travelling of prisoners from the proposed site to local courts in Peshawar for appearing in cases, there was a chance of shooting by their rivals and escape from police custody, but security would be further tightened to avoid any such incident.

The IG prison said the proposed site would be suitable for the prisoners belonging to Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan districts as it would reduce the distances to these areas.

Landhi Jail in Karachi and Kotlakhpat Jail in Lahore were also at the same distance from the city like the proposed Peshawar central prison, he said. These jail administrations in the two cities did not face any problem to handle the prisoners’ hearings and “we will also not face any problem,” he opined.

To a question about utilisation of the current central jail, Col Abdur Rauf said the government was likely to establish a park on the land because the city needed a place for public recreation.

Sources in the central jail Peshawar told Dawn the jail was formed by the British rulers in 1856. There was a capacity of 1,130 male and 57 female prisoners. Cells for 50 male and six female detainees, while a hospital for 91 male and 17 female jailed patients was established in the Central Jail Peshawar, making the total strength of 1,351 prisoners. Even after about 150 years the capacity remained unchanged due to construction in the surrounding areas, they further said.

Even occupations for the prisoners were not changed during these long period. “The prisoners still work on carpet and mate weaving machines and also learn the art of chair knitting, which is useless in this modern age,” they opined.

At present, there are 438 male and 51 female convicted prisoners in the central jail. While the strength of under-trial ordinary prisoners are 34 males; under-trial committed to sessions are 1,637 males and 52 females; condemned prisoners are 45 males and three females; non-criminal lunatics are 12 males; detainees are 41 and superior class prisoners are 450 males and 23 females, making the total of 2,804.

More than double strength of the prisoners are in the jail supposed to be formed for 1,351 outlaws, sources maintained.