KHAIRPUR, April 16: Prisoners held jail wardens hostage and climbed onto the rooftops of barracks in the Central Jail in protest against jail administration here on Wednesday.

Sources in the jail said that some prisoners refused to go back to their barracks in the evening, held 4-5 police constables hostage for two hours and then climbed atop barrack No.2, jail hospital and a number of other barracks. Raising slogans of “Jeay Bhutto” and voicing their demands, the prisoners complained that the jail administration had not provided them facilities as per jail manual. The staff compelled their relatives who visited them to part with some money before entering the jail, they alleged.

Jail Superintendent Agha Nasrullah told journalists that he had banned use of narcotics and carried out a search operation in the jail after taking over charge as jail superintendent, -- which might have irked some prisoners.

Khairpur DPO Ghulam Nabi Memon said when contacted on cellphone that the jail administration had informed him about the prisoners’ protest and he had sent the SHOs of A-section and B-section police stations, SPO and TPO of city and DSP headquarters along with heavy contingent of police to help control the situation.

The protest continued till the filing of this report.