Drug Test must for Punjab Jail inmates, re test to be conducted every six months
Drug Test must for Jail inmates in Central or district jails in Punjab: Drug Test must for Jail inmates in Central or district jails in Punjab: All undertrials and convicts will have to undergo a dope test on their arrival at any of the Central or district jails in Punjab.
A re test will be conducted after every six months of incarceration to know if they had access to drugs in the jail or not.
The decision came in the wake of allegations that drugs are easily available in Punjab jails and the addiction level of inmates worsens inside prisons. However, officials hope the mandatory dope test will provide a clear data.
ADGP (Prisons) IPS Sahota has issued an order for the mandatory blood and urine tests of inmates with immediate effect.
Jail authorities have been asked by the Prison Department to provide immediate de-addiction and rehabilitation facilities to addicts free of cost.
Sahota said, “We have also collaborated with the state Health Department for the use of test kits”. Around 1.25 lakh blood-testing kits will be required annually.
As per a 2015 study, around 47 per cent of the 26,000 inmates in Punjab jails were either addicts or drug smugglers/peddlers.
-PTC News
