CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making continuous efforts to make the state crime free. In the same direction, the state government has first taken a step in the direction of turning the state's jails into reform houses.
Giving information in this regard, a Spokesman of the Punjab government said that random checking is being done continuously to make the prisons of the state free from drugs and mobile phones.
He said that strict action has been taken against the employees of the prison department who are delivering drugs and mobile phones in the Jail and during the checking so far 4716 mobile phones have been seized from the prisoners which is the highest number in the past years.
Family Visits: Prisoners who maintain good conduct in prisons can now meet their family members physically also by registering under the Family Visits project. This was started in Punjab Prisons on 15.09.2022 to motivate prisoners to shun path of crime and for their re-integration with their families. Since then, 7497 such family visits have taken place across the prisons of the State of Punjab.
He said as a first in the country, all the prisoners lodged in various prisons of Punjab (approx. 30000) were screened for drug abuse. Apart from this In order to design and implement a better de-addiction strategy, a survey of all addict prisoners lodged in Punjab prisons has been conducted. The survey consisted of 86 questions which were prepared by a Committee of senior educationists of various Universities and other education institutions of Punjab and Chandigarh. Report of this survey is being prepared.