THE deplorable conditions of prisons especially their over crowding has been a subject of discussions for a long time now. The same was highlighted once again by a report submitted to Islamabad High Court on Saturday by the Commission constituted in November 2019 to ensure civil liberties of the prisoners.
One of the alarming aspects of the report is that a large number of prisoners languishing in jails across four provinces are not convicted thus contributing to overcrowding in prisons. Actual realities should impel us to find solutions to the excessive number of under- trial prisoners in jails. This seriously warrants for undertaking suitable judicial reforms and changes in law in order to deal with this problem. By ensuring early disposal of cases for which courts, police and prosecution has an important role to play, the issue of overcrowding in the prisons and associated problems can be addressed to a great deal. Jails are primarily meant for lodging convicts and not for housing persons under trial. This renders it desirable that two classes of prisoners should be housed separately. The IHC Chief Justice has also rightly remarked that the authority to make arrests is being used limitlessly and as the court has taken notice of it, we are confident that something will be done to limit it and save the people from illegal arrests and police harassment.
The Commission’s report has also shed light on serious physical and mental ailments that country’s prison population is suffering from. According to data provided by prison authorities in all four provinces, a total of 1,823 inmates are suffering from Hepatitis, 425 have HIV, 173 tuberculosis, 594 mental illnesses and 2,192 are suffering from other ailments. To further aggravate the situation, not every prison is equipped with medical and dental equipment and very few prisons have functioning labs and paramedical staff. As the report has highlighted real plight of prisoners, it is time for federal and provincial governments to take requisite steps to address the inadequacies be it related to medical treatment of the prisoners or others in jails. We have repeatedly been emphasising in these columns that these prisons need to be transformed into rehabilitation centres for prisoners so that they are completely transformed persons after coming out of prisons. The rehabilitation centres established in Swat for de-radicalisation of terrorists is a good model to be emulated in our prisons which will also go a long way in bringing down crime rate.
