The Sindh government has paid special emphasis on converting jails into “reform houses”, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said on Wednesday.
He was presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House to review the progress made in the prisons of the province.
“Under the reform programme, many initiatives and schemes including the improvement of the environment, teaching, learning, games, computer use, craftsmanship and health facilities have been launched to turn prisoners into good citizens,” he said.
Sindh Prisons and Law Minister Muhammad Ayaz Soomro informed the participants of the meeting that the chief minister has provided Rs 1 billion that are being spent on the repair and maintenance of barracks, rest houses, lavatory blocks; provision of drinking water facility, electric fans, charpoys, beds, computer laboratories, PCOs, art galleries, music rooms and mosques and preparation of CNICs and teaching and reciting of the Holy Quran in all prisons of the province.
“Various factories of handicrafts, carpets, pottery and woodwork, which were closed in many jails, have now been reactivated,” he added
The minister said prisoners engaged in craftsmanship will be paid remuneration from
sale of their creations.
“The income achieved will be spent on the welfare of the prisoners and the betterment of jails.”
Soomro further said computers have been provided in jails, where prisoners are being imparted training in various trades. He said preparations of making CNICs for prisoners are almost complete. He said health facilities are also being improved in the jails and arrangements have been made for organising health camps for hepatitis, eye
infections and tuberculosis. Polio camps will be held in juvenile jails.
The participants of the meeting were informed that the chief minister will distribute arms and machines worth Rs 350 million that include LMGs, SMGs, bullets and teargas shells to the prison staff on March 5.
