After the enforcement of National Judicial Policy on June 1, 2009, the number of inmates in the jails across the country is deceasing considerably. According to a report presented before the National (Judicial-Policy) Making Committee (NJPMC) by the provincial inspector general (Prisons), after enforcement of National Judicial Policy, the load on the jails has been decreased considerably.
In his report, the Punjab DIG Prisons stated that prior to enforcement of Judicial Policy there were 63,000 prisoners in various jails of the province, which was three times higher than the actual capacity. However, the figure had decreased to 52,967 as a result of the quick disposal of cases by the courts. Similarly, the number of prisoners in Sindh jails has been reduced from 20,000 to 13,464 while remaining two provinces are also experiencing the same trend.
According to an Interior Ministry report, 73 prisons in the country held more than 80,000 prisoners against a permitted capacity of 35,365 before enforcement of the judicial policy; however, the situation is gradually going to normalcy. It may be recalled that in pursuance of the NJPMC’s directions, the provincial governments are taking steps for provision of soft loans to the poor convicts to ensure their released after the payment of Diyat.
After activation of soft loans, hundreds of convicts languishing in jails for the want of payment of Diyat, even after serving the entire period of sentence, would get release which would automatically decrease the number of inmates. Though the federal government had framed rules in 2007 for provision of soft loans for the payment of Diyat and other similar categories but no sincere efforts had been made to extend the benefit to the deserving persons.
The prison authorities are set to provide books and other recreational and instructional material to the prisoners involved in terrorist activities, sectarian killings and other acts by involving religious scholars and spiritual leaders.
Besides, rules have been approved for regulating the functions of district legal empowerment committees constituted under the Access to Justice Development Fund (AJDF) to provide legal aid to the litigants who are unable to obtain legal aid or assistance for protecting their genuine rights or interests on account of limited financial resources.
Under the guidelines set by the NJPMC, the district and sessions judges are visiting the jails regularly to decide a considerable number of petty cases. The visits have also helped in improved living conditions in the prisons. After invoking Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960, which was not being applied before enforcement of the judicial policy, 38,212 offenders have so far been released on probation by the courts in Punjab with 1,388 in Sindh, 2,244 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 24 in Balochistan.
Previously, the institution of Reclamation and Probation was neglected and most of the districts were without the probation and parole officers; however, the provincial governments are now strengthening the same in terms of manpower and necessary infrastructure. Amendments are also being suggested by the Law and Justice Commission in the existing laws to take stringent action against those involved in the heinous crimes of giving women and young girls in marriage as a compromise on the intervention by the traditional councils, known as jirga and panchayat.
