LAHORE - Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) is automating the Prisons Management System (PMIS) of the province to implement in the district jail of Lahore as a pilot project.

Following its successful operation, the PMIS would be replicated at other jails of the province to convert the existing manual system into an automated one.

A meeting chaired by the Information Technology University (ITU) Vice Chancellor Dr Umar Saif reviewed the progress of the project on Monday.

Dr Saif directed the officials to speedily automate the project for effective surveillance to facilitate the authorities, jail inmates and their relatives who visit them as per jail manual. It would also eliminate the malpractices, delays and ensure improvements in functioning of the jails in the Punjab, he added.

The Salient Features of the PMIS Project at District Jail, Lahore include developing database of 3000 plus inmates by using Automated Finger/Palm Print Identification system (AFIS) which will manage the jail affairs for instant decision making, planning and execution of reformatory measures.

It includes regulate court production and manage day-to-day affairs relating to courts, provide broader access to public service, gain and retain trust, credibility through online availability of information, facilitate the visitors/public by the way fast-track registration of interviews and instant redressal of public grievances, maintain a comprehensive database of the staff including their career profiles their salary and accounts management besides capturing other issues relating to HR, improve stock and inventory management which includes management and automation of the grain storage, medicine stores in the jail hospital and other miscellaneous stores, introduce financial discipline by automating the budgeting, procurement processes and financial transactions.

At present, jails operate on a paper based manual system. This process is very lengthy and time consuming requiring lot of effort and manpower to track information of any inmate.

The Punjab Prisons Department under the Home Department, Government of the Punjab, operates 32 functional jails in Punjab, and ten new jails are under construction.

These facilities house more than 60,000 inmates. Besides, the government intends to maintain a credible data-base of all the 200,000 prisoners admitted and released from prisons annually in order track the vital information regarding their crimes/socio-cultural dynamics/tendencies with a view to improving the law and order situation.