HYDERABAD:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday claimed that the provincial government has started converting “prisons” into reform centres by introducing different reforms with the objective to make the prisoners useful persons during their sentence period.
According to the handout, the Chief Minister informed this while handing over the control of the Prison Management Information System to the Department of Prisons.
The system has been jointly provided to the provincial government by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Mission in Pakistan.
The Chief Minister said that the objective of bringing reforms in the prisons was to provide education and vocational training to prisoners so that after completion of sentence period, the prisoners could play their role in the society.
Sindh was peaceful province in the past because of the teaching of saints and mystic poets however the spread of Kalashnikov culture and drugs use, the province was experiencing increase in crimes Sindh last 40 years, he said and added that efforts are underway to combat crime and make Sindh again a peaceful province of the country.
He said that the provincial government was making efforts to separate the habitual criminals from those who have been sentenced on charges of minor crimes in order to avert making the prisons as nurseries of criminals.
Expressing thanks to UNODC and US Mission in Pakistan for providing the Prison Management Information System, the Chief Minister said that it would help in making the prisoners useful citizens.
Among others, Advisor to Chief Minister on Prisons Mir Aijaz Jakhrani, Additional Chief Secretary Home Kazi Shahid Pervez, Consul General of US Consulate General in Karachi Mark Stroh and UNODC
representative Jeremy Milson also addressed the participants of the ceremony.
While appreciating the activities of Prison Management Information System and Prison Staff Training Academy, they hoped it would ensure effective reforms in the prisons.
The Inspector General Sindh Prisons Kazi Nazir Ahmed said the establishment of the Central Data Control Centre in Karachi and Prison staff Training Academy in Hyderabad under the Prison Management Information System would surely boost the reforming process in the prisons of the province.
The handout stated that the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs along with the Sindh Government was working to bring reforms among staff of prisons since 2012 and during the period till date, the Home Secretaries, Inspector Generals and Deputy Inspector Generals of the prisons have been trained by INL.
Under the said initiative, during the visit of Central Jail Karachi in 2014, the US Assistant Secretary States had announced the establishment of an institute which was later established in Central Prison Hyderabad where 600 staff members of the prisons would get training every year.
The computers and other training equipment have been arranged by the Sindh Government and under the said project, the Prison Manager Information System has been established under which the prisoners would have facility of audio and video calls while Queue Management System would also be introduced for visitors with preparation of biometric records.