HYDERABAD, Jan 28: The Sindh government will install cell phone jamming system initially in Karachi and Hyderabad prisons to counter its increased usage, said Sindh Minister for Jails Muzaffar Shujra.

He was talking to the journalists at the press club, here on Wednesday.

Radical changes are needed for reforming prisons with proposals already sent for amendments in Prison Rules along with an increase in diet and jail repair budgets, he said.

It was not an easy job to improve jail conditions but the job had been initiated, he said while conceding rampant corruption in prisons because of the unelected regimes.

“Being custodian of 20,000 inmates with 75 per cent under trial prisoners, it is my duty to treat them all in accordance to Jail Manual,” said the minister adding that it was a pity that accused before being convicted were lodged in jails and soon forgotten.

Citing a proposed amendment in sections 330 and 502 of Prison Rules, he said that it seeks to shift convicts to condemned wards only after they had exhausted all remedies, including appeal for clemency and permission for installation of fans in kitchens.Every district jail would be declared a central prison with prisoners to be kept in their respective districts along with construction of Naushahro Feroze and Ghotki jails to lessen overcrowding in Sukkur jail, he said.

He said that Hyderabad jail was a century old structure and only Rs15 million was earmarked for the repair of Sindh jails which was not enough while it was housing 5,000 prisoners against the capacity of 1,500.

Soon all jails would be computerised making it easy to produce prisoners and to bring into the notice of Chief Justice, Sindh High Court of the status of case if it was not preceded, he said.

Finger printing would make it easy for police to nab a criminal if he comes to meet a UTP.

The Chief Justice SHC would be requested to depute magistrates to proceed with minor offences in jails where courts already exist, he said and added: “Zakat money would be diverted to payment of Diyat of prisoners or small amount of surety for release would be fixed.”

He said that the Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and federal government had been approached for establishing hospital and school in prisons.

He said that enhancement in salaries of prison staff was being sought in line to their Punjab counterparts along with an increase in vans for the production of under trial prisoners in courts.

The announced Rs25,000 grant for the Hyderabad Press Club.