LAHORE, June 4: The amount contributed by the prisoners to the revenue of the Punjab jails tripled in the first 10 months of the current fiscal over the corresponding months last year.
The prisoners’ Rs14.65 million contribution constitutes about 64 per cent of the provincial jails’ Rs23 million revenue.
The income derived from the convict prisoners stood at Rs662,973, as compared to last year’s Rs425,064.
The prisoners are paid Rs5 to Rs7 for a day’s labour. The prisoners who have served more than 10 years of their sentence are allowed to work outside the prisons and are paid up to a third of the contract amount.
According to the additional inspector general (Prisons), Abdus Sattar, “engaging” prisoners in various types of labour “helped them learn vocations and skills.”
Those engaged in various kinds of labour in the Punjab prisons include 9,557 men, 264 women, and 584 juveniles. The tasks include carpet weaving, furniture making, tailoring, football making and stitching, assembling electric appliances, cooking and computer training.
The children, between 15 and 21 years of age, are also engaged in the vocations meant for adults. Women are employed in embroidery and dress making.
Around 1,400 prisoners in Kot Lakhpat jail are currently serving rigorous imprisonment sentences. Most of them are engaged in carpet weaving and kitchen work. The small industry corporation provides a carpet supervisor.
A few prisoners are interested in learning technical skills like electrical appliances assembly and repair. One Mazhar told Dawn he had opted for it because he wanted to learn some skill that would benefit him after his release from jail. He said one needed an inborn aptitude to learn the skill.
The Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent, Mian Farooq, said an NGO provided instructors for computer and electronics technicians. The instructors are available for two hours a day. In their absence the most advanced student assumes the role.
The educated prisoners prefer learning various computer skills. A university graduate, Zafar, said he had learned the basics and wanted now be a computer programmer. There are 10 prisoners in the computer class.
A group of 15 prisoners, between 50 and 65 years of age, have taken up the spinning wheel. Fazal Dad and Bashir said they had to agree to the job because their age did not permit them to seek any other labour. Out of the 30 Quran class participants, two are Hafiz. Hafiz Pervez said the Hifz exercise took about three years in jail. He said it took about five months to get through the entire Quran.
Remission of seven days a month is allowed to those working as teachers, sweepers and cooks. Kitchen duty is considered the toughest. Every prisoner is required to work in the kitchen for at least three months. “Prepare a delicious food is an art, I was a driver by profession but have become a cook here. On my release, I will work as a cook. Outside the jail it is a well paid profession,” said Bashir who is serving a 25-year sentence.
Five days a month remittance is granted to the remaining categories and six days for those working on Sundays as well.
The AIG said over 10 new categories were about to be introduced in the Punjab prisons. These include clinical assistant, computer operator, radio/TV repair, repair of house-hold appliances, matric and intermediate (health group), computer course diesel engine mechanic.
