PM for prison reform
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has said that the focus of jail reforms should be on improving the condition of jail inmates. “Jails should act a reformation centre instead of producing criminalsâ€, he said while charing a preliminary committee meeting to prepares recommendations on jail reforms here at State Guest House on Sunday. Justice Agha Rafique Ahmad Khan, Secretary Law division, Imtiaz Qazi Additional Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Muhamamd Naeem-ul-Haq member NRB, Mian Farooq IB prisons IG prisons NWFP and Major (Retd.) Akbar Lashari DIG prisons Baluchistan were also present.
He said, the government attaches high priority to the jail reforms and provision of facilities to the inmates and directed all the concerned authorities to come up with proposals in this regard at the earliest. Describing his own experiences, in castellation, the Prime Minister said that a lot of things need to be kept in view while preparing reforms, over-crowding is one of the main issues which need to be addressed as it create problems like drug addiction, miserable food conditions, availability of space and spreading of various diseases like skin diseases, hepatitis and IB.
He directed the concerned Ministry of Law and Justice to change the jail manual according to the needs of 2008 to get rid of centuries old system and ensure provision of basic facilities to the prisoners. He stressed upon the need to impart vocational training to the prisoners to make them responsible citizens. He directed the committee to check the powers of superintendents of jail through judiciary and study the reports of ‘Law Commission and Justice Zahid Nasir’ while making the reforms.
Expressing his serious reservations on the role of “Mushuqti†he directed the jail staff to provide telephone facility to the prisoners to check corruption. He said that under trial prisoners are 80 percent and stressed the need to speed up their trial to control the overcrowding in jails. He said that the jail culture needs to be changed into rehabilitation centre so that the prisoners could be made responsible citizens. Jail industry should be improved focusing on technical training for the prisoners, he said.
He also emphasized upon the need to provide best food and health facilities at the prisons especially for the women, including availability of gynecologists. The Prime Minister directed the jail authorities to install water filtration plants for the provision of clean drinking water to the prisoners.
The Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has directed that new prison reform should focus on improving the conditions of jails and their inmates to make the jails reformation centers. He was chairing a preliminary meeting of the Committee slated to prepare recommendations for new prison reform on Sunday. The Prime Minister said over crowding of prisons is one of the main issues to be addressed as it is creating huge problems like drug addiction among prisoners, miserable food quality, unavailability of space and spreading of various diseases. He asked the participants to change the law to get rid of the century’s old jail manual and to make it relevant to the present age.-SANA
Popularity: 1% [?]
Loading ...
