Sessions court: Loose grill on cell for holding prisoners

Whereabouts of application seeking repair unknown.

LAHORE: Security officials at the detention cell at the Sessions Court fear that a loose window grill gives prisoners a chance to escape, but nothing has been done to repair it since it was reported to the office of the district coordination officer (DCO) three weeks ago, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The welding joints in the grill are weakening and could be broken by several men acting together, said an official at the cell.

The matter came to the attention of security officials over a month ago when a group of prisoners tried to escape from the holding cell by breaking the grill. The guards were alerted by the noise and stopped the breakout attempt.

Inspector Sohail Bashir, the supervisor of the detention cell, admitted that the grill was breakable and posed a security threat.

He said that senior judicial magistrates Khalid Saeed Wattoo, Nawaz Ahmed Dhodhar and Irfan Basraa had visited the cell several weeks ago to inspect the grill.

“They told me to submit an application to them which they would refer to the DCO for action on a priority basis. I sent the application and it was submitted to the DCO’s office three weeks ago,” Bashir said.

DCO Ahad Cheema said he was unaware of the problem and had received no such application.

Bashir said that no extra security measures had been taken to ensure that prisoners don’t take advantage of the loose grill. “We are aware of the problem and keep an eye on it,” he said.

He said that some 300-400 prisoners were brought to the cell every day to wait while their cases came up in court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2011.