Teeming: 1,330 prisoners in 337-capacity Gujrat jail

"Low salaries of prison officials were the root cause for corruption in jails," says jail official.

GUJRAT:

Gujrat Superintendent of Police Imtiaz Bali has said that as many as 1,330 prisoners are languishing in the district jail which has a nominal capacity to house only 337 inmates.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Bali said that there were 1,260 men, 35 children and 35 women in the jail.

He said there were 146 men who had been awarded death by sessions and high courts and 43 were those sentenced to death by the supreme court.

An inmate recently released from the jail told The Express Tribune some of the prisoners were allowed to use mobile phones in the jail.

He said they also had the more spacious barracks. He said he had learnt that paid Rs8,000 each to the staff. He said some of the wardens supplied drugs to the prisoners.

He said the prisoners were suffering from various stomach ailments because the water supply is contaminated. He said some of the barracks also lacked fans.

Talking to the media, Prisons Deputy Inspector General Mirza Shahid Saleem said there were indeed more prisoners in the jail than the sanctioned capacity. He said there was a need to build another jail in the district.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, some jail officials said that low salaries of prison officials were the root cause for corruption in jails.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2012.