Career Scope of Assistant Superintendent Jail and Deputy Superintendent Jail

Assistant Superintendent Jail (ASJ) and Deputy Superintend Jail (DSJ) are government posts of grade-16 and 17. Both ASJ and DSJ are posted in Jails of Punjab Prisons Department. Both male and female candidates are hired for the posts in question. Assistant Superintendents are recruited against all available vacant seats but Deputy Superintendents are recruited against a specific quota of vacancies. In case of DSJ, 30% of total posts are filled through PPSC against direct quota and 70% posts are filled by giving promotion to Assistant Superintendents.

If you have cleared your ASJ or DSJ Exam and interested to join, here is some detail about your career scope as Assistant Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent. If you are new to know about this exam/ job opportunity here are other write-ups Introduction to ASJ Exam and Introduction DSJ Exam, these would help you decide to start your career as Prisons Officer.

Promotion Steps:

1. At first step, Assistant Superintendent (ASJ) is recruited directly in Grade-16 and after due course of time he/she is promoted to one step higher rank of Deputy Superintendent Jail (Grade-17) subject to availability of vacancies against 70% promotion quota.
2. At second step, both promotees and directly recruited Deputy Superintends (DSJ) are promoted to the rank of Superintendent in Grade-18 after course of time and subject to availability of vacancies.
3. At third step, Superintendent Jail is promoted to the rank of Senior Superintendent Jail (SSJ) in Grade 19 if seats of SSJ get vacant.
4. At fourth step, SSJ is promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector General/ DIG Prisons in Grade-20.
5. Finally, DIG Prisons is promoted to Inspector General / IG Prisons in Grade-21 when the seat gets vacant.

Promotion Scope:

1. Promotion pace of Assistant Superintendent seems slow, possibly he/she may not reach IG, DIG, SSJ or even Superintendent rank because of less seats and direct recruitment of Deputy Superintendents and Superintendents already made.
2. Although Superintendents (Grade-18) are not now recruited directly but direct recruitment of Deputy Superintendent (Grade-17) is being carried out. This direct recruitment impacts promotion pace of ASJ.
3. Total 32 jails are being run in all over Punjab so there might be a small number of seats of Deputy Superintendents (DS) and probably quantity of seats of Superintendent (Grade-18) would be lesser than DSs likewise other higher ranks seats would be few in number. Therefore, shortage of seats can hinder pace of promotion of Deputy Superintendents. Thus, Deputy Superintendents may have to sit in queue waiting for retirement of their senior incumbents.
4. 45 Judicial Lockups are available at tehsil levels presently in the control of Punjab Police. These judicial lockups are being upgraded/ restructured to meet prison requirements and will be convert into Sub Jails. These Lockups/ Sub Jails are expected to give in the custody of Prisons Department. If it happens so, probably Deputy Superintendents may be stationed as Incharge of such lockups/ new jails. Resultantly, number of Assistant Superintendents will be promoted as Deputy Superintendents against such 45 vacant seats.

Organogram:

Organizational hierarchy of Prisons Department is as follow:

1. Inspector General of Prisons Punjab (BS-21)
2. Additional Inspector General of Prisons (BS-20)
3. Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (BS-20)
4. Senior Superintendent Jail (BS-19)
5. Superintendent Jail (BS-18)
6. Deputy Superintendent Jail (BS-17)
7. Assistant Superintendent Jail (BS-16)