80,145 prisoners in 98 jails against sanctioned strength of 56,495: SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Ombudsman Secretariat Thursday submitted its 3rd quarterly report in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding jail reforms and shared details of detainees housed in prisons of four provinces.

According to the report, compiled after Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz held several meetings with Chief Secretaries and Inspector General Prisons of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhaw, Sindh and Balochistan, as many as 80,145 prisoners had been kept in total 98 jails against the sanctioned strength of 56,495.

As per the break-up, given by the Secretariat in its press release, the prisoners’ present strength in Punjab is 45,423 against the approved strength of 32,477, Sindh jails house 16,739 detainees against the capacity of 13,038, whereas 15,969 jail inmates are in Khyber Pakhunkhwa against the sanctioned strength of 8,395 and Balochistan jails accommodate 2014 prisoners against the capacity of 2,585.

The data contains the number of both male and female convicted, under-trial and death row prisoners.

The Ombudsman has already directed all the provinces to constitute two bodies namely Provincial and District Oversight Committees for monitoring jail conditions.

The Ministry of Interior and Provincial Home/Prison Departments have been asked to appoint Senior Officers to act as a Focal Person to monitor the performance of committees.  The Law and Justice Commission along with Advocates General and Provincial Ombudsmen would review and submit proposals for significant expansion of probation / parole facilities to reduce pressure on accommodation facilities in jails.

The Ombudsman Secretariat is also going to sign a MOU with the University of Health Sciences, Lahore for providing psychological and technical training to the trainers.