PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has embarked upon a plan to strengthen the Parole and Probation Department to help reintegrate young offenders charged in minor offenses into national stream.
Officials at Directorate of Reclamation and Probation (DRP), an attached body of Home and Tribal Affairs Department, told APP on Monday that a comprehensive plan has been chalked out to equip offices of Parole and Probation Officers with all necessary furniture, vehicles, computers, drivers and clerical staff in all districts of the province.
The DRP was formed in 1965 with a prime objective to provide alternatives like probation and parole services to those incarcerated, thereby implementing and promoting the reformative theory of justice and help reintegrate young offenders charged in petty nature offenses into the mainstream.
Institutional assessment for reclamation and probation are done for the uplift of parole and probation system besides strengthening seven districts offices in Peshawar, Abbottabad, DI Khan, Mardan, Malakand, Manshera and Dir Lower with furniture, IT, telephone and other services.
Home Department is looking after to Police, Prosecution, Prison, Reclamation and Probation departments by earmarking Rs1560 million for 51 development projects including Rs1424 million for 35 ongoing and Rs136 million for 16 new projects in ADP 2018-19 in current fiscal year.
The new projects include reformation and skill development for probationers, establishment of forensic and medico-legal directorate, case management system in directorate of prosecution and its district offices, de-radicalisation emancipation programme in Swat, computerisation of arms licenses in remaining districts besides construction of hostels for trainees at Central Prison Haripur.
The offenders, especially juvenile convicted in non-serious offence by the courts for a specific period, are handed over to the probation officers who are asked for their re-integration and making them law-abiding citizens of the society.
Probation and parole officers are providing psycho-mental services to probationers and young offenders besides playing constructive role in curtailing overcrowding in jails.
Probation officers are mostly working in district courts mostly with a single room facility also shared by other staff members and additional rooms are required for establishment of an ideal environment for creating a trust-based relationship based between probationers and probation officers.
To meet requirements of Juvenile Justice System under Ordinance (JJSO) 2000, the official said Borstal Act was promulgated in 2012 according to which Borstal Institutions were to be established in the province primarily to provide separate facilities to young offenders and keeping them away from adult and hardcore prisoners in jails.
Borstal Institutions’ major mandate is assisting inmates under 18 years of age, provision of basic facilities including education, health-physiological counseling, proper arrangements for their mental nourishment, food and accommodation under a safe and congenial atmosphere.
BORSTALS SET UP:
Keeping in view importance of these institutions, the KP government has set up two borstals at Bannu and Haripur and efforts were underway to establish more in other districts of the province.
Most of the people are unaware about reclamation and probations services being offered by KP government and called for creation of awareness for which proactive role of media, LG representatives, academicians and civil society carried significant importance.
The Directorate is making efforts to include probation and parole’s subjects in LLM curriculum, the official said adding Judicial Academy KP has formed a module regarding probation and juvenile justice system ordinance (JJSO) and included it in training of judicial officers that was a great achievement for the department.
