‘District jail to move out of city’

SP says number of prisoners in Mandi Bahauddin jail has exceeded capacity

MANDI BAHAUDDIN: Steps have been taken to shift District Jail Mandi Bahauddin to outside the city. The prison is surrounded by buildings which pose a security risk. The deputy commissioner has been requested the earmarking of a location and a 60-acre land for the purpose.

This was stated by District Jail SP Ataullah Malik while speaking to media persons in Mandi Bahauddin.



Malik said that the current jail was built in 1978 and was given the status of a district jail in 1993 with a capacity of 290 prisoners. But now that the number of prisoners has more than doubled the capacity, a new jail outside the city is the need of the hour.

He added that on directives of Punjab Prisons IGP Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig and DIG Naveed Rauf, the inmates were being reformed so they become better individuals and may contribute to the society.

“The inmates are also being provided access to religious and social literature inside the prisons,” he maintained. He pointed out that hygiene conditions were also being improved.

The SP said the inmates should have full religious freedom in the month of Ramazan where they could pray five times during the day, be able to recite Qur’aan and acquire a religious education.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2018.