Jails shouldn't be torture centres, goal should be to reform inmates: Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh, Mar 30 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said jails should not be torture centres and the primary goal of prison department officials should be to reform inmates, including hardcore criminals, in order to bring them in the mainstream.

Safeguarding the human rights of inmates should be the top priority of jail officials, the chief minister said while chairing a meeting of the prisons department.

"Our primary goal should be to reform inmates including hardcore criminals, gangsters and drug addicts, who have gone astray due to compelling circumstances beyond their control, so as to bring them in the mainstream," an official statement quoted Mann as saying.

Jails should not be torture centres. The focus should be on making them reformation houses by providing counselling to inmates for correctional interventions so that they can become ideal citizens of society, he said.

Mann underlined that all the inmates should be treated alike irrespective of their social status or position.

Jail officials should accord top priority to safeguarding inmates' human rights. Prisoners should be provided basic facilities like medical care and quality food as per the jail manual, the chief minister said.

He also asked officials to maintain strict vigil to prevent illegal use of mobile phones in jails.

During the meeting, Jails Minister Harjot Singh Bains requested Mann to immediately fill the vacancy of managing director of Punjab Police Housing Corporation as the post has been lying vacant since the retirement of DGP and chairman-cum-MD M K Tiwari over a month ago. Due to this, several projects of the prisons department have come to a halt, the statement said.

Bains also urged the chief minister to make a budgetary provision for the construction of a modern jail at Mohali in the 2022-23 budget, it said. PTI SUN DIV DIV