LARKANA, April 6: Sindh prisons chief Nusrat Mangan said on Saturday that jail police were being trained in phases to effectively use new weapons they had in case of emergency.

During a visit to the Special Prison for Women and Juvenile, Larkana, the prisons chief told reporters that the new weapons had been procured with an amount of Rs30 million.

He replied in the affirmative when asked whether the jail police could handle the weapons they had.

The jail police were capable of facing any eventuality, but in Karachi there was a backup support of district police, Frontier Constabulary and Rangers, he added.

Responding to a question, he said that central prisons in Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad and Sukkur were declared ‘sensitive’ where high-profile militants and criminals were lodged.

He said that the Karachi central prison was the most-sensitive prison in the province.

Denying that 10 prisoners had died recently in the Hyderabad central prison due to Hepatitis, he said that an inquiry into this report would be initiated and blood screening of all new inmates for Hepatitis would be carried out and if any negative case was traced he would receive vaccine doses against the illness.

In response to another question, he said that any former legislators convicted in the fake degree cases would be treated as criminal prisoners in jails.

Currently, there are 25 prisoners in the Special Prison for Women, Larkana along with four children under the age of two. Four separate barracks meant for juvenile prisoners are also located in this prison.

Complaints of substandard food During the visit, some juvenile prisoners, including Sadam Soomro who had landed in jail in a murder case, complained to the prisons chief about substandard and half-cooked rice and low quality of tea.

They feared that they would soon be shifted to central prisons where according to them they would be vulnerable to excesses if kept with criminals there.

They appealed to IG Mangan to drop the plan if they were preparing them to shift them to the central prisons. They also complained that they were transported along with adult prisoners to courts for hearing of their cases.

The IG asked Jail Superintendent Rehmat Abbasi to stop the practice of sending them in courts along with the adult prisoners.

He should write to the SSP concerned for providing separate transport to ensure their production in courts, he said, adding: “If we transport juvenile prisons with adult ones, then the purpose of keeping them in separate wards would be defeated.”

He announced donating five computers and two television sets for women inmates.

He asked the jailer to frequently arrange sports events inside the jail.

Aijaz Haider, the superintendent of the Larkana central prison, and other officials accompanied the IG during the visit.