Major reforms in Punjab Prisons on the cards: Raja Basharat

Provincial Minister for Law and Cooperatives Raja Basharat has said that the Punjab government was planning to introduce a major reforms package for the employees of jails and common prisoners across the province which would significantly improve the entire prison system.

He was visiting the office of Inspector General (IG) Prisons Punjab where he was received by IG Prisons Shahid Saleem Baig. A guard of honor was presented by the jail police. Raja Basharat said that he was making the visit on the instructions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to consult on proposed prison reforms.

He said that for the first time any Chief Minister had thought of poor and helpless prisoners instead of rich ones. He said that the proposed package would provide quality facilities to the prisoners through legal, financial, social and administrative changes.

"A proposal to increase the salaries and allowances of prison staff will also be considered," he added. Raja Basharat directed the IG and his legal team to send their suggestions in writing immediately. Earlier, he inspected the online monitoring system, digital complaint cell and media cell where various parts of Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, District Jail Pakpattan and other jails were also observed online.

The law minister directed that complete monitoring results could not be obtained until the online monitoring system was accessible inside the superintendent's office and prisoners' barracks. He said that special attention should be paid to the reasons of complaints along with their redressal received in the complaint cell so that the prevailing flaws in the system could be properly identified. Additional Secretary Home (Prisons) Shafqatullah Mushtaq, DIG Headquarters Malik Munir Ahmed and DIG Lahore Region Naveed Rauf were also present.