Peshawar: Inspector General (IG) Prisons Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Usman Mehsud has said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a clear advantage over other provinces in terms of reforms in prisons and provision of facilities to prisoners.
Woodwork, shawls, marble and detergent factories are functioning in various jails of the province, in which 30% of the profits are given to the working prisoners. Similarly, post office facilities are also being made available along with drug rehabilitation centres.
He was interacting with the media after inaugurating post office, e-visit booths, drug rehabilitation center, day care centre and functionalization of family quarters for convicted prisoners at Central Jail Mardan on Friday.
The IG Prisons arrived Central Jail Mardan where Jail Superintendent Najamul Hasan Abbasi along with jail officials welcomed him.
A squad of jail police presented salute to the IG Prisons. Muhammad Usman Mehsud inaugurated the post office set up by the Post Office Department in the jail.
Postmaster General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehsanullah Marwat informed that the prison post office will provide registry, parcel including money order and other services of the post office for the prisoners, staff and general public.
He said that post office is already functioning in Central Jail Haripur while work is going on to provide this facility in other jails as well.
On this occasion, an MoU was also signed between Central Jail Mardan and Post Office. IG Prisons said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only province where convicted prisoners are provided family quarters to spend three days with their families for conjugal rights.
He said that the number of e-visit booths has been increased where the prisoners can meet their families with the facility of video link.
He said that the facilities of air coolers in summer and warm beds and blankets in the prisons of cold areas are available to the prisoners in the prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Usman Mehsud said that the prisons have been converted into reformatories in the province. In the drug rehabilitation center of Mardan Jail, apart from de-addiction, psycho-social counselling, entertainment and teaching various skills are also provided to the inmates so that they can go out and become useful citizens of the society.
On this occasion, Superintendent of Central Jail Najamul Hassan Abbasi also presented shields and gifts to IG Prisons Muhammad Usman Mehsud and Postmaster General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.