Sindh jail reforms bill sent to law ministry after passage from assembly

KARACHI: Sindh jail reforms bill after passage from the provincial legislature yesterday has been sent to to the law department, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The Sindh Assembly on Friday, passed the Sindh Prisons and Correctional Facilities Bill 2019 into law by a majority vote, to transform the prisons in Sindh into correctional facilities.

Provincial law ministry will move forward the legislation to the governor to sign it into law.

The new legislation proposes constitution of a policy board for introducing reforms in jails.

Under the legislation a jail official involved in bribery and torturing an inmate will be awarded two years jail sentence. A prisoner could also be allowed to cook his own food.

Schools and colleges will be established in jails, while an adult education centre will be set up in each barrack of a jail, the passed bill said.

The B-class prisoners will be provided a television set, computer, air cooler and video call facility, as per the approved legislation.

The jail medical officer will be responsible for the health of the inmates.

All married prisoners will be provided 24-hour meeting time with his/her spouse after every three months, the legislation said.

A prisoner could be released on parole in case of death of a close relative.

Sindh government will be entitled to appoint Inspector General Prisons under the passed bill.

The legislation has been passed in order to provide opportunities to the jail inmates to participate in a reformation process to become responsible members of society once they are freed.

The Sindh Assembly passed the bill on the basis of a report of a select committee of the House, which had reviewed the draft bill to improve it. The select committee was headed by an MPA of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Ghulam Qadir Chandio, and comprised lawmakers of both the treasury and opposition benches.

The passed legislation will replace the colonial era prison rules and become an act of law after being signed by the governor.