PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has directed the authorities of prisons department to initiate process for the construction of a high security prison and women’s prison in Peshawar besides improving conditions in the existing jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chairing a meeting, he also directed installation of water filtration plants in all the prisons of the province, said a handout here Thursday.

Inspector General prisons Khalid Abbas briefed the chief minister about the existing conditions of prisons in the province, number of prisoners, facilities being provided to the prisoners, formal and informal education being imparted to them, jail menu, reforms, financial matters, security of jails, development schemes of the department and other related matters.

Mr Khattak was informed that records and management system of all the jails would be computerised during the current year, while record and system of central jail, Peshawar, had already been computerised.

Officials said that construction of central jail Swat, district jail Shangla, women jail Peshawar, district jail Malakand, district jail Charsadda and district jail Nowshera were included in the annual development programme of the department.

The IG prison said that the practice of corporal punishment in jails had been stopped whereas the prisoners were being provided quality food. He said that generators had been provided to all the jails of the province to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to expedite the pace of work on the reconstruction of central jail, Peshawar. He expressed satisfaction over the overall performance of the prisons department and hoped that it would perform much better in the future.

Meanwhile, chairing a meeting of police department the chief minister directed the authorities to constitute a working group in the department consisting of experts of the field and retired bureaucrats to bring reforms in police, especially in thana culture, and give recommendations for necessary legislation to this effect.