Family rooms being built for prisoners in jails

Special family rooms are being constructed for the prisoners in four jails of the province so that they could spend some days with their families while construction work of 11 new jails is also in progress.
It was informed in a meeting presided over by Provincial Minister for Jails Saeed Akbar Khan here on Wednesday, disclosed an official. It was informed that hostels comprising 20 rooms each would be constructed at Central Jail Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan at a cost of Rs 60 million on emergency basis.
The facility of kitchen and bath would also be provided in these family rooms. The meeting was informed that construction of 11 jails in the province was being undertaken speedily while jails at Vehari and T.T Singh had become operational and with the construction of 13 jails, the capacity of prisons in the province would become 35,000. It was further informed that presently there are more than 55,000 prisoners as compared to prison capacity of 20,000 and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has announced the construction of new jails to resolve this problem. The work on this project is in progress.
Moreover, Rs 579.46 million are being spent on the construction of jails during current fiscal year and 70 percent work has been completed. High security prisons are being speedily constructed at Mianwali and Sahiwal while high security barracks at Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad are nearing completion.
The Minister directed to provide cold water, fans and sheds in the jails. He directed the DIGs to pay surprise visits to jails and personally inspect the facilities being provided to the prisoners in the summer. He further directed that officers of the department should personally supervise the construction work of jails and no laxity would be tolerated in this regard. He also directed the officers to personally supervise food, medicines and health facilities being provided to the prisoners.
He said the Punjab Chief Minister has provided an additional amount of Rs 200 million for providing food to the prisoners while Rs 25 million are being provided annually. He said prisoners should be provided standardised food and no slackness would be tolerated in this regard. Complaints regarding presence of mobile phones in jails are being received and strict action would be taken in such cases, he added.