HYDERABAD, April 8 Sindh Minister for Prisons Muzaffar Shujra said on Wednesday that the government was in the process of bringing new jail reforms and making amendments to certain prison laws to convert jails into reforming centres.

He said at the inauguration ceremony of Literacy Centre at Juvenile Prison in the Hyderabad Central Prison that the proposed reforms would focus on provision of education, health, standard food, skill development and relaxation in rules.

The government had already raised budget for prisoners' food by more than 45 per cent and also provided other facilities according to jail manual, he said.

He said that the government was also considering amending laws governing bail for prisoners involve din minor crimes and an amendment to allow keeping condemned prisoners in regular wards until their mercy petitions were rejected by the competent authority was also being considered.

He said that no previous government had carried out extension of jails for the past many years, resulting in overcrowding and accumulation of other problems for jail administrations.

One could easily judge how crowded the jail were by comparing number of prisoners in jails with their actual capacity, he said, adding, that 18,840 prisoners were crammed into all 20 prisons of the province against their capacity for 9,535 prisoners.

He said that the government had decided to make extension of jails part of its proposed jail reforms plan.

To a question, the minister said that due to shortage of police personnel and vehicles, jail failed to respond to prisoners' hearings in courts but now his department had approached the government for getting back 153 vehicles from the Sindh Home Department, which were previously purchased for jails before the two departments were merged into one.

Mr Shujra said that level of corruption in prisons had been minimised but not eliminated completely. He, however, stressed that a strategy was being evolved to root out corruption completely.

To another question, he said that his department had not received any threats of attacks on jails and stressed that his department was strong enough to ensure foolproof security at each prison.

The Pakistan People's Party leadership had rendered great sacrifices for the restoration of democracy and suffered imprisonment in different jails and personally experienced worst conditions.

Earlier, he visited Literary Centre at Juvenile Jail and women jail and different sections of the Central Jail where he inquired about problems of prisoners and issued on the spot orders to solve them.

DIG Prison Allauddin Abbasi, LUMHS Vice-Chancellor Dr Noshad Shaikh, Jail Superintendent Gulzar Channa and others accompanied the minister on the visit.