Prisons in Pakistan don’t normally restrict the use (or misuse) of mobile phones hence the practice is widespread in the province, according to sources in the Prisons Department, who recently confessed this to a Daily Times reporter.
Talking to Daily Times, a senior Prisons Department official said that the department administration had been launching crackdowns to recover mobile phones from inmates, but the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978 were completely silent about the usage. The rules were laid down 30 years ago when there were no mobile phones.
Lately however the police has swung into action and managed to seize 380 mobile phones, 69 SIMs and 21 chargers from across the province in just four months. In this context, 92 mobile phones were seized from the Lahore Camp Jail, 65 from the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail, and 61 from the Rawalpindi Central Jail.