KARACHI: The Sindh government on Tuesday announced launch of the ‘Prison Management Information System’ in July and establishment of a ‘high-security prison’ in Thatta.
The decisions were taken at a meeting on prison reforms held at the Sindh Secretariat under the joint chairmanship of Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah and Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz.
The meeting was attended by senior advisers Anwar Haider and Ejaz Qureshi, member in-charge Sindh A.D. Khawaja, the IG (prisons) and senior officials of the home department.
Farhat Imtiaz Janwari, the spokesman for the chief secretary, said that the meeting was briefed about jail reforms in the province.
The chief secretary told the meeting that reforms were being introduced at jails across the province. He said the education, health and social welfare departments as well as civil society are working on the reforms.
‘High-security prison’ also planned to be established in Thatta
“Oversight committees have also been formed under the prison reforms,” he added, and elaborated that besides philanthropists, these oversight committees had representation of experts from the judiciary, education and health sectors and civil society.
Mumtaz Shah said that the Prison Management Information System (PMIS) would be launched at 23 jails in July. “The system will improve monitoring and administration of prison department,” he added.
The meeting was informed that vaccination of prisoners against Covid-19 pandemic in the province had been started. So far, 4,350 inmates and 1,222 staff of the prison department had already been vaccinated.
The meeting was further informed that all new inmates were tested for coronavirus. Currently, there are 18,440 inmates in the jails including 193 women and 175 juveniles. The Mirpurkhas jail has also been given the status of ‘central prison’. Inmates are offered a variety of training courses, including fine arts, English, computer, beautician, carpentry, handicraft etc.
The chief secretary told the federal ombudsman that a high-security prison would be established in Thatta and the land utilisation department had been tasked to identify spaces for new jails.
The IG prisons informed the meeting that Rs1 billion had been earmarked for the rehabilitation and repair of existing jails during the current financial year.
Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz welcomed the prison reforms and said that the Sindh government had done a “great job” and he would mention these reforms in his report to be submitted in Supreme Court.
Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2021