SAFDAR RASHEED

LAHORE: The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)’s Prison Management Information System (PMIS) team gave a detailed demonstration and presentation to the Punjab’s Minister Prisons Zawar Hussain Waraich and IG Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig and briefed that in accordance with the 100 days’ plan after successful running of PMIS in its pilot phase at District Jail, Lahore, PITB will initially rollout the PMIS application at six different jails across Punjab out of 20.

Zawar Waraich Provincial Minister Prisons lauded the PITB efforts in digitalizing Prisons department, which was an integral part of Criminal Judicial System and both were looking forward to make this remarkable project of its own kind as a flagship project of PITB and Punjab Prisons as well. The application modules like complete prisoner management including remissions, hospital affairs, visitor management, HR management, automated summary of daily duty roaster, bank management, store management, factory affairs would make the performance of provincial jails more transparent and bring in improvements and efficiencies, the Minister added.

The IG Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig said that it was needed to update prison records to strengthen the criminal justice system. The PITB developed the Prison Management Information System (PIMS) for this purpose. It was implemented in Lahore District Jail as a pilot project. Salient features of PMIS includes comprehensive online database of more than 3,000 inmates which uses an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS), planning and execution of reformatory measures, regulation and management of day-to-day affairs related to courts, facilitation of the public through fast-track registration of interviews and instant redressal of public grievances, maintenance of a comprehensive database of prison staff, including their career profiles, salaries, bank accounts and HR-related data, Stock and inventory management, which includes management and automation of the grain godowns, medicine stores and other miscellaneous stores and automation of budgeting, procurement processes and financial transactions.

The meeting was informed that PMIS is integrated with the MIS of Home Department, Punjab Police, Lahore High Court and Anti-Corruption. The PIMS has ensured efficient control and management of jail affairs. It requires less manpower and time. It also aids instant and informed decision making and planning. It has significantly facilitated visitors. Through the PIMS, information of 51,747 prisoners, 14,895 visitors and 136 patients hospitalized in the jail has been gathered at the pilot project.

Previously, prison inmate data was recorded on registers. Management and retrieval of these records was quite cumbersome. The data included detailed information about legal histories of inmates housed in various prisons. This included the date of their admission, their fingerprints, their court dates, jail transfer, medical histories, parole and crime details.