20 major jails of Punjab to be digitalised
PHOTO: AFP
The authorities have decided to link 20 major jails of Punjab with a Prison Management Information System (PMIS) and store the information of all prisoners in the digital network.
The PMIS was launched in 2014 as a pilot project in District Jail Lahore. After the success of the system in Lahore jail, it will be implemented in 20 other jails in the province.
A senior official of the prisons department said the PMIS was launched in 2014 in collaboration with the Home Department Punjab and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The aim was to store the data of all prisoners and staff of prisons digitally.
Under the decision, PMIS will be installed in Mianwali Central Jail, Sahiwal, Central Jail Lahore, Central Jail Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Jhang, Gujranwala, Toba Tek Singh, Gujrat, Kasur, Multan, Vehari, Sargodha, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.
Under the project, the Home Department will provide all IT-related resources to the Punjab Prisons Department including system software and hardware.
Initially, 182 modern computers will be provided to the 20 jails.
Reportedly, a UPS backup system will also be provided for all computers.
All prisons will be provided 65 cameras, printers and other equipment.
The biometric data of all prisoners will be stored in the PMI System and linked to the central server.
Officials hope that with the complete implementation of the system, corruption and injustices with the prisoners and staff in the jails will be eradicated.
The performance reports of the officers of the prison department will also be included in the system.
The complete data from the food provided to the inmates to the medicines, sports and recreational facilities, prayers and meetings with visitors will also be computerised.
All the jails will be connected to the centralised system.
The Punjab government will be able to monitor all the jails at any time in a very easy way through the system.
Sources said that the PMI System would also help in improving security of the prisons across the province and controlling the dangerous inmates and rioting in the jails.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2020.