More than 500 women prisoners released: IG
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Inspector General for prisons Punjab, Captain (Retd) Mufti Sarfraz, has said more than 500 women prisoners had been released from different jails of the province under presidential ordinance so far after completing legal formalities.
The Inspector General told the media after appearing before the supreme court here on Monday in a case regarding provision of medical facilities toprisoners in jails. He said that more than Rs. 25 million had been allocated by the provincial government to provide possible medical facilities to prisoners at hospitals jails.
Specialists, lady doctors and lady health visitors have been visiting jails on weekly basis for regular check up of prisoners and providing medicines and treatment, he said. He said 16 new ambulances were being purchased with the special allocation of funds approved by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
Regarding meals for prisoners, Mufti Sarfraz said that budget for this had been increased from Rs. 200 million to more than Rs. 400 million. When asked about construction of new jails in the province, he said ten more jails in various districts of the province would be constructed, including two women Jails in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.
To a question regarding especial wards in jails for women, the InspectorGeneral said only one women jail exists in Multan and two would be constructed at Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. But special wards for women prisoners exist in every jail of the province, even with woman deputy Superintendent and other female staff. To a question about the alleged stitching of lips of a prisoner, he said, “This was a drama and just to blackmail jail authorities which has been proved through two separate inquiries conducted by the jail authorities and the provincial government.”
This act was planned by the prisoner named Raza, who was shifted from one barrack to another when found selling drugs including charas, at the premises of the Bukhshi Khana before the appearance in the district court, he said. Earlier, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry disposed of an application submitted by the brother of the deceased Jam Muhammad Ramzan, who had died in a camp jail in Lahore where he was kept as prisoner.