HARIPUR: Inspector General of Prisons, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Saadat Hassan said here on Sunday that efforts were afoot to transform the existing prisons into rehabilitation centres so that the inmates could be equipped with education, marketable skills and moral values, enabling them to live the post-release life as productive and law abiding citizens.

He was speaking to mediapersons during his first visit to the central prison, Haripur, after taking charge as IG prisons about a week ago. He was accompanied by assistant inspector general, prisons, Rehan Gul Khattak.

The IG said that he would focus on reforms that could help meet the growing needs of correction and rehabilitation of prisoners, which was the core objective of the prison system.

Answering a question, Mr Hassan said he was also working on incorporating technical education and skill courses into the prisoners’ remission system so that the inmates learning different technical skills during their detention could get maximum benefit in their jail terms.

Visits Haripur jail, reviews facilities offered to prisoners

Haripur Jail superintendent Hamid Azam briefed the IG about the ongoing projects, including education, skills development, recreation and sports for the prisoners and the facilities being offered to the inmates.

On this occasion, the IG inaugurated the indoor games room where the juvenile inmates would be allowed to play table tennis, carom, chess and ludo. He also visited the jail hospital and different sections of the jail and listened to inmates’ problems.

NEWSMAN HELD: The city police have arrested a local journalist, Haris Ayub Swati, and his cousin Shafiq Swati over alleged extortion and intimidation of a policeman, head constable Akhtar Jadoon, in their native village Sikandar Pur.

However, the family of Haris Swati denied the charges and accused the police of pursuing vengeance against him for publishing a news story of extortion and custodial torture on May 22 against the SHO and the complainant (Akhtar Jadoon) based on a complaint of an Afghan national about a fortnight ago.

The detained journalist was produced before the court of duty magistrate and the police sought his remand, but the court sent him and his cousin to Haripur jail on judicial remand.

Meanwhile, the local journalist fraternity condemned the registration of FIR against Haris Swati, a correspondent of local Urdu newspaper, and implicating their colleague in a fake case and demanded cancellation of the FIR.

Published in Dawn,June 20th, 2022