Ombudsman Punjab constitutes Jail Inspection Committees for all districts and tehsils

Lahore: Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmood, in the light of the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan, has constituted Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committees for all districts and tehsils of the province. Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committees at district and tehsil level have made 1st inspection visit of district/tehsil sub-jails and started preparing report on the state of affairs of the jails for onward submission to Supreme Court.

As per notification issued by Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmood, Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committee at district level will comprise District Superintendent Jail concerned, District Prosecutor, a representative of DCO (an officer not below Grade-18), the DPO or his representative, not below Grade-18, SP Investigation, and a member of District Bar Association. The committee shall be headed by the Advisor to Ombudsman Punjab of the respective district. Similarly, in Tehsil Offices, the Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committee have been constituted comprising Assistant Commissioner, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), DSP Investigation, Incharge Sub-Jail of the Jail Department, Public Prosecutor in the Sub-Division and Member Tehsil Bar Association concerned.

Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committees, during its inspection visits, would look into the prescribed duties, functions and responsibilities of the prison personnel, regulatory/monitoring mechanism in placed, health care system/facilities for prisoners, state of security, state of discipline, state of women prisoners, state of child prisoners, difficulties faced by the prisoners in jails, general issues of Police Investigation, Prosecution and Prison Departments with regard to early dispensation of justice to accused.

Ombudsman Jail Inspection Committees would also examine and submit the monitoring and evaluation framework for measuring the quality (access, effectiveness and impact) of public grievance redress mechanisms. Ombudsman Punjab has also notified District Advisor to Ombudsman as focal person to redress the grievances of public with regards to the concerned district jail and tehsil sub-jail.