LAHORE: In line with developments and reforms taking place around the world, the Punjab Prisons is planning to construct a state-of-the-art ‘Prisons Complex’ on the outskirts of the provincial capital with an aim to provide latest facilities so that ‘criminals could be transformed into a useful organ of society’.
Punjab Prisons Director Development Tahir Khan while talking to Business Recorder on Tuesday said the prisons department had sought allocation of Rs 600 million in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 2021-22 for the construction of the state-of-the-art ‘Prisons Complex’ at Sua Asil.
He said they had already acquired a piece of land measuring 623 kanal while the Punjab government has allocated only Rs 130 million in the ADP for launching of the first phase of the project. He said that women, juveniles and ordinary prisoners would be confined at the prisons complex.
In the first phase, the director said, the prisons department is aiming to construct admin block, barracks, libraries, school playing areas and technical and vocational training centres, waiting area and sports complexes. According to Tahir Khan, facilities like school, library, kitchen or mess, mosques, waiting area, sports complexes would be established separately for women, juveniles and ordinary prisoners inside the prisons complex.
Another senior officer, who wished not to be named, said the purpose behind establishing the prisons complex was to offer better facilities to under-trial and convicted inmates, including women and juveniles, in line with developments and reforms taking place around the world so that they could be transformed into a useful organ of society. “Another positive aspect of this project is that it would pave the way for the prisons authorities to resolve the long-standing issue of overcrowded jails,” the officer added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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