Punjab moves ahead with jail reforms

LAHORE: Punjab government has decided to establish Office of Director General Parole and Probation in the provincial capital as a new parole and probation service has been set up in the province. An meeting on “Jail Reforms” was held at the Civil Secretariat Wednesday. Additional Chief Secretary Home Department Punjab Momin Agha chaired the meeting. As prisons of Punjab are overcrowded, the ACS home directed the department concerned to constitute parole boards so that the parole boards could streamline cases of prisoners. Formation of parole board was a vision of Punjab chief minister. According to the ACS, the facilities would be provided to the prisoners under CM’s vision. The ACS directed the prisons department to prepare complete summary on jail reforms. Iqbal Hussain, Special Secretary of Home Department Punjab, Zeeshan Shabbir Rana Additional Secretary Prison Home Department Punjab, Awais Mushtaq Deputy Secretary Prison, Mirza Shahid Inspector General Punjab Prisons attended the meeting. It is pertinent to mention that parole is given on good conduct of a prisoner to give him a chance to prove himself a changed person. Release on parole is conditional and always supervised by a parole officer.