Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Control of Prisons Transferred to Interior Ministry

Control of Prisons Transferred to  Interior Ministry

KABUL - The control of all jails and detention centers across the country was transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Interior, officials said on Tuesday.
An agreement to the effect had been signed with Justice Minister Habibullah Ghalib, Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi told news networks

At least 475 political prisoners escaped from the Kandahar central jail last year when a suicide bomber crashed his explosives-laden vehicle into a wall of the prison.
His ministry had decided to increase the number of prison guards to foil jailbreak attempts, Mohammadi said, asking jail officials to behave well with inmates.

Better management and good attitude played an important role in reforming society, he remarked, saying the interior ministry had appointed a delegation to monitor prison conditions.
Mohammadi urged the international community to assist them with providing vocational trainings to inmates.

Ghalib said internal affairs of jails and other detention centers had been handed over to the justice ministry in 2007, but there were many security-related problems inside jails because the security personnel supplied drugs and mobile phones to some inmates.

But now policemen have been trained by the interior ministry on necessary steps for prison reforms, according to Ghalib, who said the Ministry of Justice had constructed some jails, but eight prisons were still operating in rented buildings.

About 22,116 prisoners, including 600 females and 384 foreigners, are currently being held in 34 jails across the country. Forty-two Iranian, 13 Tajiks, an Iraqi, a Thailand citizen, two Indians and eight Nigerians are among the foreign inmates.