Capacity building programmes launched for Herat prisoners

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): All prisoners of the Central Prison in western Herat province have been provided with literacy, children training, English language and computer learning programmes, an official said on Monday.

The Central Prison of Herat province is considered to be one of the biggest jails in the western part of the country where prisoners from Herat and surrounding provinces — Ghor, Farah and Badghis are kept.

Mawlavi Mohammad Nabi Khalil, head of the Herat Central Jail, during talk with Pajhwok Afghan News said currently, 2,000 prisoners were kept in the facility.

He added most prisoners were detained in the prison after conviction and court sentence in robbery, forgery and murder cases.

He said all the prisoners were provided with three-time food by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

According to Khalil, the prisoners could meet with their family members two times in a week inside the prison.

He said the prisoners were treated properly and in a decent manner and added the acting government was committed to the rights of prisoners and nobody had the right to torture, humiliate them.

He said for the look after of women prisoners, former women police had been hired without any delay.

He said that certain tuitions such as literacy, children training, English language and computer language learning were beneficial for the capacity building of prisoners.

Khalil said: “prison is a place of change and personnel of the Herat Central Jail strived to produce qualified and dignified people to the society.”

Mohammad Ihsan, one of the prisoners of Herat Central Prison, said he was in this prison from the past 7 months and was happy with the behavior of jail personnel and the facilities provided to him.

Thanking, the jail authorities for the capacity building programmes for inmates, Ehsan demanded more of these schemes.

Jumma Khan, another prisoner, said the level of crimes surged in due to the lack of knowledge, growing poverty and lack of government attention.

He termed the training and learning programmes launched inside the prison a factor of change among prisoners and urged more attention to education in the country to eradicate crimes.

A civil society activist Manizha Saebi supported the capacity building measures of Herat prison officials and termed it effective for the growth and development of prisoners.

She stressed over the encouragement of foreign support in this area and asked the government to reopen schools for girls above class eight.

It is pertinent to mention that acting government often renewed its commitment to steps that could help in the reformation of prisoners and reduce crimes in the society.

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