Pakistan: US provides assistance to build training institute for prison staff in Sindh

Karachi: The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US State Department has provided assistance to build an institute to train the prison staff in Sindh.

Also, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, has helped to create the Prison Management Information System (PMIS) for the jails of Sindh.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah went to the Central Prison in Hyderabad to inaugurate the training institute and the PMIS.

Speaking on the occasion, Ali Shah said that his government in 2019 had enacted a law to transform prisons into correctional facilities that would enable the inmates to become responsible, law-abiding and skillful citizens who after their release would contribute towards the development of the society.

He hoped that the institute would go a long way to train the prison staff to run the jails of the province as correctional facilities.

Ali Shah invited the prison staff of the other provinces to get training at the facility so that the prisons in rest of the country could also be transformed into correctional facilities.

He said that his government had planned to establish a high-security prison in Thatta district where hardened criminals would be interned as rest of the jails in the province would be run as correctional services for the prison inmates who were involved in ordinary crimes.

He said the new Information Management System at a click of a button would enable him to know the exact number of inmates at a particular prison and also to locate the place of imprisonment of a particular prisoner.

He hoped that all the concerned stakeholders would perform their due role to lessen the crime in the society to reduce the prison facilities in the country instead of increasing them.

The training institute will be used to train 600 prison staff every year. Ali Shah ensured provision of computers and other necessary equipment for the institute.

The PMIS will launch a queue management system for the people who visit the jails to meet the prison inmates and will also keep their bio-metric record. The system will also provide audio and video calling facility to the prisoners.