Pakistan - inmates miserable conditions

WHILE the Sindh minister for jails has highlighted his government`s efforts to improve prison conditions, the fact remains that much more needs to be done nationwide to improve the state of correctional facilities.

Nowhere in the world is imprisonment a pleasant experience, yet the condition of many jails in Pakistan can at best be described as mediaeval.

Local prisons suffer from myriad problems, perhaps the biggest of which is overcrowding. Many jails house double the number of inmates than their original capacity, with the situation in Punjab particularly acute. As the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan notes, the majority of inmates are undertrial prisoners, which indicates the inefficiency of the judicial process. Inmates, particularly younger ones, are exposed to extremists in jail while hardened criminals are often locked up with those serving time for petty offences.There have been several instances of criminals and terrorists carrying on their activities from within prison with the help of cellphones.

The availability of decent healthcare to prisoners is also an issue, and there is hardly any focus on themental health of the inmates. A particularly cruel reality of the system is that children often accompany female prisoners if there is no one to care for them outside.

Perhaps it is due to all these factors that the International Crisis Group, in a report last year, said that Pakistan`s `prisons have become a fertile breeding ground for criminality and militancy, with prisoners more likely to return to crime than to abandon it`.

The situation may be bleak, but that does not mean the state should abandon attempts to reform it. As the ICG notes, building more jails is not the solution; finding alternatives to imprisonment, such as fines and community service, particularly for petty crimes, may well improve the situation especially where overcrowding is concerned. Bail laws must also be enforced while under-trial prisoners who cannot afford counsel should be offered free legal aid. Politicians know about prison life, as many of the country`s top leaders have done time, often on politically motivated charges. Hence there is all the more reason for them to initiate meaningful prison reforms.