Jail staff in all prisons across Punjab was banned on Sunday from using mobile phones during duty hours. However, the superintendent and the deputy superintendents of jail would be aloud to use mobile phones.
Lahore Prisons Deputy Inspector General Mubashar Ahmad Malik said the Punjab Prisons chief, Mian Farooq Nazeer, has clamped a complete ban on the use of mobile phone during duty hours and has directed all DIGs and jail superintendents to ensure a strict compliance of the ban in their respective jurisdictions. He said nearly 52, 000 inmates were imprisoned in 32 jails throughout the province. “For effective security in and around the prisons, a modern network of jamming devices is also being installed,” he said. “During my surprise visit to Lahore Central Jail, one of the wardens, Inayat, threw away his mobile in a dust bin to hide it from me. However, I suspended the warden and issued a show cause notice to the assistant superintendent of the jail for his failure to notice the mobile phone which was probably being used by the inmates too,” he said. Separately, Sahiwal Central Jail Senior Superintendent Gulzar Ahmad Butt recovered three mobile phones from the prisoners. The Camp Jail Superintendent Ejaz Asghar, in a surprise crackdown, recovered 34 mobile phones, along with mobile accessories, from the prisoners.
Lahore prisons superintendent, deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent also conducted a series of surprise crackdowns in different prisons across the city and recovered dozens of mobile phones from the prisoners and the wardens. The prisoners possessing mobile phones were confined to rigorous punishment and were barred from meeting their relatives for one month.
