Rawalpindi prison to install benches for inmates

Minister orders sitting arrangement for prisoners in jail clinics, kitchens; IG issues letter to superintendents

RAWALPINDI:

The authorities in the Central Prison of Rawalpindi have started planning to install benches wherever there is a shortage of sitting space in the jail including the clinic for prisoners, sources said on Friday.

Punjab IG Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig has issued a letter to all jail superintendents to make chairs and benches available for prisoners after a video went viral on the internet showing a prisoner in Sargodha District Jail sitting on the floor for medical examination in the prison’s clinic.

Adiala Jail Superintendent Chaudhry Ijaz Asghar, when contacted, said that the prison administration was fitting benches where these are not available.

He said following the letter received from Punjab IG Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig, sitting arrangements for prisoners in all of the eight jails of the Rawalpindi division will be reviewed.

The waiting area of the prison, called mulahiza, is reserved for prisoners going for a court hearing and those coming back from trials and waiting to be interned to barracks. In other jails inmates were either kept standing or made to squat on the floor in this section between the two prison gates opening towards outside and inside; even this section of Adial Jail has 40 benches, the superintendent said.

He assured that there was ample sitting place in the jail hospital and the dining area. However, it should be noted that the capacity of the prison is around 2,000 but around 6,000 convicted and under-trial prisoners are crammed into it.

Asghar further said that there are regular shades for the waiting area of visitors coming to jail for meeting the prisoners at Adiala Jail. Earlier this month, 11 staff members of Adiala Jail were suspended following the incident of recovery of prohibited items from the inmates during a search operation conducted last Sunday.

All suspended officials have been directed to report to Inspector General’s Office in Lahore.

The inquiry was launched after a brawl between two groups of inmates at the Adiala Jail hospital after which a grand search operation was launched.

The police recovered cash and phone chargers along with other prohibited items from the possession of the inmates. Viral video Punjab Prisons Minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan had made a surprise visit to Sargodha District Jail earlier this week.

During his round of various barracks, kitchen, and school, he saw a prisoner squatting on the floor in the jail’s clinic.

The video of the inmate sitting on the floor with a health official arrogantly sitting on a chair went viral on social media. The video of an inmate squatting on the floor in a jail clinic for treatment not only caused a public outcry on social media but also prompted the jail minister to order corrective measures.

The minister directed the IG jails to end the inhuman treatment of prisoners seeking medical treatment.

Chohan directed IG Jails Saleem to install benches for inmates.

Chohan told Saleem to ban the practice of making prisoners sit on the floor or keep them standing at jail clinics and hospitals. In light of the minister’s orders, Punjab Jails IG issued a letter to all jail superintendents across Punjab including Rawalpindi.

IG Saleem expressed serious concerns about the prevailing conditions in jails and stated that these were places of rehabilitation.

It added that the Punjab government was taking measures for the provision of facilities in the prisons but mistreatment with inmates was a matter of concern.

The letter directed all superintendents to ensure installation benches for the prisoners and placed a ban on making them stand or sitting on floors.