KARACHI   -  An important meeting on prison reforms was held at the Sindh Secretariat under the joint chairmanship of Chief Secretary (CS) Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah and Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz. The meeting was attended by Senior Advisor Anwar Haider, Senior Advisor Ejaz Qureshi, Member Incharge Sindh AD Khawaja, IG Prisons and other officials of Sindh Home Department. 

The meeting was briefed about the reforms made in the jails of the province. In the meeting, Chief Secretary Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah said that reforms were being brought to all the jails of Sindh province. The departments of education, health, social welfare and civil society are working for the reforms. “Oversight committees have also been formed under the prison reforms,” said CS Sindh. 

He further stated that the oversight committees include the judiciary, civil society, education and health experts and philanthropists. CS Shah said that the Prison Management Information System (PMIS) would be launched in July in 23 jails of the province.  He said that the system will improve the monitoring and administration of the prison department. The meeting was informed that vaccination of prisoners in the province had been started. So far, 4,350 inmates and 1,222 staff of the prison department had also been vaccinated. 

The meeting further informed that all new inmates are tested for the coronavirus. There are currently 18,440 inmates in the jails, including 193 women and 175 juveniles. It was informed in the meeting that Mirpurkhas Jail had also been given the status of central jail.  Prisoners are offered a variety of training courses, including fine arts, English, computer, beautician, carpentry, handicraft, and more. The Chief Secretary Sindh told the Federal Ombudsman that a high security prison would be established in Thatta and the Land Utilisation Department had been tasked to identify land for four new jails. 

IG prison informed the meeting that Rs1 billion had been earmarked for the rehabilitation and repair of existing jails during current financial year. In the meeting, Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz appreciated the prison reforms of the Sindh government and said that the Sindh government has done a great job in prison reforms and he would present these reforms in the Supreme Court as part of the report.