PESHAWAR, July 6: Hundreds of the people kept at the Peshawar Central Prison, including women and children, have been spending sleepless nights due to power outages, while many of them have become sick due to intense heat and suffocation in their cells, it is learnt.

Official sources told Dawn that it had become difficult for the jail authorities to cope with the situation as every night, almost two dozen prisoners fainted and were admitted to the hospital on the premises.

Currently, the British-era prison has around 1,985 convicts and undertrials against the capacity of 850.

“We made several complaints to the high-ups and sent letters to Pesco (Peshawar Electric Supply Company) but in vain as the situation has not improved so far,” said an official of the prison.

He said the jail authorities had also sent copies of their letters to Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, Peshawar district and sessions judge Shehbar Khan, the provincial police officer, commissio0ner of Peshawar division and others in the hope that they might step in for easing out the misery of prisoners, but to no avail.

The official said in the past, the prison was exempt from loadshedding during nighttime but currently, it suffered from the excessive, unscheduled loadshedding. Interestingly, the prison is situated in close proximity to several important buildings, including the Chief Minister’s House, Governor’s House and Corps Commander’s residence, which are not subjected to power outages.

Brother of a prisoner informed Dawn that he had learned reliably about his brother falling ill due to intense heat and suffocation before being rushed to the prison’s hospital.

He said the government and Pesco should pay heed to the problem as hundreds of prisoners had been imprisoned there.

“It is true that they are imprisoned for being charged with different crimes but still they are human beings and should be treated in a humane manner,” he said.

A prison official said the jail authorities had a small electricity generator, which could help switch on a few lights only. He said prisoners were locked in different barracks during night and they were mostly overcrowded and therefore, suspension of electric supply stressed them out. The official said scores of them often fell unconscious prompting those on duty to pour buckets full of water on them for their recovery.

He added that prisoners suffered from dehydration, diarrhoea and dysentery due to power outages, while several women prisoners with minor children feared that their children could fell ill due to intense heat in cells.

It is learnt that a prisoner, Naimat Khan, died a day ago as he suffered from diabetes, while his feet had sores.

An official of the prison said two days ago, a Lady Reading Hospital doctor had suggested amputation of the prisoner’s feet forcing him into depression. He said the prisoner, who faced drug smuggling charges, was regularly shifted to the hospital for the dressing of his wounds but his condition worsened due to intense heat inside his cell.