Overcrowding In KP Jails Big Challenge For PTI Govt To Overcome

Overcrowding in jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a big challenge before PTI led government to overcome and the provincial government was not oblivious of its obligations to address this lingering issue on sound footing, said KP CM advisor on Prisons, Malik Qasim Khan here on Thursday

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Nov, 2017 ) :Overcrowding in jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a big challenge before PTI led government to overcome and the provincial government was not oblivious of its obligations to address this lingering issue on sound footing, said KP CM advisor on Prisons, Malik Qasim Khan here on Thursday.

In an exclusive talk with APP here, Malik Qasim mentioned scores of schemes and uplift projects initiated by the KP government during last four years to improve the overall conditions of the jails and its inmates through various jails reforms besides addressing the chronic issue overcrowding.

The KP�s jails reforms mainly focused on overcoming problems of overcapacity in the central jails of the province that included improving standard of food menu and hygienic conditions to provide better living conditions to imamates, he explained.

However, he said still a lot has to be done to make the jails� welfare oriented for the prisoners so that they could become good citizens after completion of their jail terms. To address problem of overcrowding in jails, he said new jails and blocks in old central jails in different districts of the province were being constructed besides computerization of jail and prisoners record for quick disposal of cases.

Malik Qasim said first phase of construction new jail in Peshawar has been completed would be opened in next month. Under the first phase, he said, new blocks in central jail Peshawar were constructed that would enhance accommodation capacity for inmates to 3000 from existing 425.

Work on the second and third phases would start soon under which residential quarters, guard rooms and offices for employees of Central Jail Peshawar would be constructed. Malik Qasim said Pakistan�s first high security prison having three-layered security had been constructed in Mardan and high profile prisoners of Central Jail Peshawar, Lower Dir and Swat were shifted to it.

The Prison Force of KP was equipped with latest gadgets and equipments to ward off any eventuality besides bolstering security of jails.

The overall performance of prison force has been improved and confidence of masses were restored.

Zero tolerance against corruption was adopted in Prison Department and policy of punishment and reward system was introduced. High security zones and cells in different jails of KP were also being constructed to keep high profile prisoners separate from other prisoners.

These high security zones and cells are being set up at six sensitive jails in Mardan, Timergara, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat and Karak. Work on central jail in Abbtottabad were almost completed where hardcore prisoners in Manshera, Haripur and others jails would be shifted to it to overcome problem of overcrowding.

Construction of central jail in Swat has been planned and work on it would be started soon while expansion work in Dera Ismail Khan Prison was almost completed, he maintained. Computerization of Jails record has been started and all the data of prisoners of Central Jail Peshawar were computerized, he added.

A state-of-the-art Training academy was setup in Haripur for provision of training and capacity building of Prison Department Force, he explained. He said an Oil Refinery was being setup in Karak district to fully exploit the natural resources in southern districts of the province.

The project will be completed at an estimated cost of sixty two billion rupees in two years with a capacity to refine 40,000 barrels oil per day. Two small reservoirs projects were completed in Loighar and Latambar in PK-41 to address problem of drinking water in Karak besides construction of two colleges at Shingodikhel and Latambar and 23 Primary schools in PK-41 constituency.

To provide better communication facilities to people, he said 38 kilometers long road that would connect Mianwali and Karak was completed and market to access roads would provide better income to farmers.

He said these projects would help improve socio-economic conditions of masses besides generating jobs opportunities for youth and promoting industrialization and business activities in southern districts of KP.