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2000 under triab in Lahore jail are drug addict

Lahore: As many as 2000 under-trial inmates out of 3200 are narcotic addicts in camp jail, Lahore.

In an exclusive interview with APP here on Saturday,the Superintendent, Camp Jail, Lahore Nasir Mahmood Warriach, said that 3200 prisoners are housed in the jail against the sanctioned strength/capacity of 1000 persons.

He said that out of these 450 were involved in cases of dacoity, 104 in theft and 100 in murder cases while the remaining inmates were jailed on the offence of property disputes, financial transactions etc.

About the rehabilitation of the addicts in jail, he said that on the special directive of Prisons Chief, Punjab Chaudhary Muhammad Hussain Cheema, a full fledged ward in jail hospital has been set up to treat and rehabilitate narcotics addicts.

He said that whenever any narcotic addict was sent to jail, he should be admitted to hospital immediately for one week or fortnight to cure him under the supervision of two whole time medical officers assisted by necessary paramedics.

He said all the under trial inmates involved in heinous crime of narcotics smuggling and dacoity were chained and kept under strict vigilance. All under-trial prisoners irrespective of their nature of offence were bound to abide by the rules and regulations of the jail, he added.

Warriah said that all under trial inmates were thoroughly checked physically with the help of metal detectors at the time of their entrance into jail to fully ensure that none of the brings with him any narcotics and arms or ammunition.

He said that religious teaching was being imparted to all inmates and five time prayers were also offered in the jail daily. He said that two TV sets had already been provided to the inmates of two barracks for showing excellent performance in religious tests.

About the shortage of jailers, he said that " I am controlling the jail population of 3200 persons with jail staff sanctioned for 1000 prisoners".

He said the Punjab Minister for Jails, Abdur Rehman Khan Niazi has moved to government to meet the shortage of jail staff in the province in accordance with the population of the prisoners.-APP