LAHORE, Jan 1: There is a dire need to construct a jail for women at Lahore and Rawalpindi in addition to one existing at Multan.

An official of the jails department said here on Tuesday at present 1,041 women have been housed in different jails in the Punjab. Of them, only 284 were confined at Multan against its capacity of 104. Due to distant location of jails, great difficulties were being faced by the relatives of these women in meeting them and taking care of their needs, he said.

He said around 124 women were held at Central Jail, Lahore, and 141 at Central Jail, Rawalpindi.

“This underscores the need to build jails at these sites. This will also facilitate implementation of the government policy to separate female prisoners from the males.”

In addition to building two new jails, the government should also fill 18 posts of women assistant superintendents on priority basis. These posts have already been sanctioned for different jails, he said.