LARKANA, June 16: About 500 prisoners are in virtual control of the central prison as they have refused to give head count and go back into their barracks since June 8, according to jail officials.

The jail's deputy superintendent Malik Aslam told Dawn on Thursday that the prisoners were protesting and demanding jail staff bring back 50 of their colleagues from Qambar who were sent there to attend hearing of cases on June 8.

Sources inside the jail said that 180 prisoners were due to appear in different courts in Qambar-Shahdadkot on June 8 but only 50 went there while 130 declined to appear in courts.

The deputy superintendent said that jail wardens had been pulled from inside the jail to avert a possibility of prisoners attempting to hold them hostages and using them to bargain for acceptance of their demands.

“So it has been free for all inside the jail since June 8, which is a security concern for us and the matter has been conveyed to high ups,” he said.

Under the prevailing conditions, no jail staff was entering the jail nor any prisoner was coming out to appear in courts. On Monday, 170 prisoners were to attend hearings in different courts but only three could go, he said, adding that normally, 150 prisoners went to courts regularly.

When Chief Justice of Sindh High Court came to visit the central prison along with Inspector General of Prison Sindh Ghulam Qadir Thebo, DIG of Larkana and other officials on June 11, he did not go inside the jail and was briefed in the office about jail's conditions, the official said.

The authorities concerned had offered the protesting prisoners alternate accommodation in old district jail and judicial lock-ups in Ratodero and Dokri but they refused to budge because they did not trust them. Besides, they feared an operation against them, said Malik Aslam.

Afraid of an imminent operation, the prisoners had put locks on the inner gate of the jail and stocked up stones, said the sources said.

Police had been deployed along the outer wall of the jail as a pre-emptive measure. A large number of prisoners had tried to break down the inner gate on 14 June but their attempt was foiled when police lobbed teargas shells into the building.

“It has become state within a state” said Mr Malik. A case had been lodged at Waleed police station against six prisoners Bashoo Shabrani, Nadir Buledi, Nek Mohammad Jagirani (lifers), Khasho Chandio, Sono Chandio and Zahid Chandio on charges of instigating prisoners to protest.

Sometimes, the prisoners climb to roofs of barracks, burn old clothes and throw stones at the guards in watchtowers, he said.

On Thursday, a group of prisoners climbed to the roofs of their barracks and demanded their colleagues sent to Khairpur, Sukkur, Qambar and Shahdadkot should be brought back.