18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, July 17: The provincial government has enlarged women's barrack in the Central Jail Peshawar as female prisoners lodged with their children there were facing problems because of congestion.

According to a performance report of the prison department, the NWFP government has not only widened the female prisoner's section but also established a new hospital and a vocational centre along with providing other necessities.

Some 89 women prisoners are languishing in the Central Jail Peshawar along with their 16 children.

The women prisoners had been shifted to the barrack inside the prison meant for male prisoners when the old portion of the jail was demolished.

Work on the prison at Jalozai, about 23km north-east of Peshawar, is still in its initial stages even though two years have passed since it was started.

The women prisoners, who were supposed to be shifted to the under-construction Jalozai prison, were kept in the suffocating barrack before it was enlarged.

"Women's barrack was overcrowded and inmates were living in pitiful conditions with their children. They were exposed to health hazards," a jail official said.

The other jails of the province have also been provided with such facilities as hospitals, vocational centres and places for visitors.

A Special Welfare Fund was utilized for repairs, renovation and provision of medicine at the D.I.Khan prison.

Women's barracks have also been fitted with geysers and electric water coolers.

Women prisoners are taught needlework and glass work at vocational centres which help them earn upon being released.

A new male visitor's room was also constructed in the Peshawar jail while the old visitor's room for females has been repaired.

According to the official document, a separate section for women prisoners has been established in the Haripur jail while construction work on two barracks and one hospital would be completed there by September.