There are approximately 90,000 people incarcerated
in the prisons of Pakistan including men, women, juveniles, minors with their
mothers etc. Almost each province is faced with overcrowded prisons. In Punjab,
for example, with a capacity to house 21,527 inmates there were 51,133 inmates
in prisons, including 745 juveniles, by the end of September 2015. A staggering
34,860 or 70% of these inmates were under trial. The staff strength of the
Prisons Department is around 17,795 with a total sanctioned budget of PKR of
7.5 Billion (7,524 Million) for financial year 2014-15.
On the other side, there were 23,395 probationers
in Punjab including 22,974 male, 300 female and 105 juvenile probationers as
well as 575 male and 01 female parolees. The staff strength of Probation and
Reclamation Department, Government of Punjab includes 95 Officers including a
Director (Basic Pay Scale BPS 19), 5 Deputy Directors (BPS 18), 14 Assistant
Directors (BPS 17), 55 Probation Officers Male and 02 Probation Officers Female
(BPS 16) and 15 Parole Officers Male and 05 Parole Officers Female all in BPS
16. The sanctioned budget for the Department was PKR 116.078 Million for
financial year 2015-16. This shows that with only 1.54% budget as compared to
the Prisons Department; the Probation Department is taking care of 45.75% of prisons’
population.
Similarly, in KP, with a capacity to house 8,285
inmates there were approximately 10,000 prison inmates with almost 70% under
trial including 274 women and 395 juveniles. The staff strength of the Prisons
Department in KP is 4,049 with an annual budget of 1,268 Million for 2014. The
total Non Salary Expenditure during the year under was 599.62 Million. This
translates to per prisoner per day Non Salary Expenditure of PKR 197.83
Million. It includes per prisoner per day food cost of PKR 124.43. While there
are approximately 2,000 probationers and 25 parolees with the KP Probation and
Reclamation Department with an annual budget of only PKR 31.67 Million for
2013-14.
Balochistan and Sindh are no different either, in
Sindh the prisons population in December 2015 was 19,372 with 3,276 convicted including 40
female and 10 juveniles, death sentence 465 including 2 females and under
trials were 15,351 including 150 females and 211 juveniles. With 25 male and 01
female Probation Officers Sindh has 645 probationers with 0 females, 45 male
juveniles and 01 female juvenile on probation.
The purpose of this piece and the above data is to
highlight how important but ignored the probation system in Pakistan is where
the criminal justice system is dead focused on punishment and how investments
in and strengthening of the probation system in Pakistan can help reduce the
prisons population. Prisons are considered nurseries for producing criminals
and where huge investments are made every year for improving prisons infra
structure and still most of the inmates particularly women and children live in
miserable conditions.
Probation is a court imposed SANCTION that
"releases a convicted offender into the community under a conditional
suspended sentence". This practice assumes that most offenders are not
dangerous and will respond well to treatment. In fact, the average PROBATIONER
is a first time and or non-violent offender who, it is believed, will be best
served by remaining in the community while serving out the sentence
(Encyclopedia). Under the probation system an offender is placed under the
supervision and care of a Probation Officer in lieu of imprisonment as long as
the probationer meets certain standards of conduct.
Why are alternatives to detention important and
particularly for children? According to UNICEF alternatives to detention are
measures that may be imposed on children who are being formally processed
through the criminal justice system, at both pre-trial and sentencing stages that
do not involve deprivation of liberty. Alternatives to detention involves
communities and are inexpensive whereas detention is expensive and leads to overcrowding
and turns juveniles and or inmates hostile and vulnerable to be abused and
exploited.
According to the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), one of the easiest ways to resolve the problem of overcrowded prisons in Pakistan is by invoking the system of probation and parole provided under the law. Probation is particularly useful in cases of offenders who are not yet committed to a life of crime. The relevant laws have existed for decades in Pakistan, where over seventy percent of the prison population consists of offenders whose sentence terms range from one month to one year. Generally, most have landed behind bars as a result of petty disputes, such as fights over land or water, or due to some family feuds. Most are devoid of any criminal characteristics: their interaction in jail with confirmed criminals and professionals only harms them rather than doing them any good.
After the introduction of the National Judicial
Policy (NJP) 2009 being introduced by the National Judicial Policy Making
Committee (NJPMC) headed by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, a significant
progress was noticed in the use of probation as an alternative measures to
detention in the country. There were 10,362 probationers in Pakistan in 2005 while
today there are approximately 26,000 probationers in Pakistan mostly in Punjab
and KP. This was possible as the NJPMC advised the Courts and Government to
maximally use the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 and the Good Conduct
Prisoners Probation Release Act 1926 by releasing the deserving convicts on
probation and parole as prescribed in the law. The Committee also recommended
that alleged child offenders’ cases will also be given higher preference. I am not sure however, if there is that level
of focus anymore on the National Judicial Policy 2009’s implementation with
reference to the utilization of probation system and will strongly recommend a
continued focus with a provincial lens on, on the utilization of probation
system and continuous follow up with the government and the district level
Criminal Justice Coordination Committees for progress in each district of
Pakistan particularly in KP, the Islamabad Capital Territory and Punjab where
the Police Order 2002 is still in place while in Balochistan and Sindh the
District and Sessions Judges can be followed up with.
The provincial governments should encourage the
Probation and Reclamation Department and focus on awareness among the
stakeholders about probation system given in laws and also in the NJP as an
effective alternative to detention/incarceration of offenders including child and
women offenders. Efforts should also be made to bridge the gap among the
judiciary, police, and probation department. The provincial and federal
judicial academies should play an active role in creating widespread
understanding about and willingness to utilize the probation system and last
but not the least the provincial governments should make a comparative analysis
of the budgetary allocation for Probation and Prisons and the outcomes and
increase budgetary allocations for the Probation and Reclamation
Departments.
The writer is a human rights
activist and development practitioner with a Masters in Human Rights from the
London School of Economics (LSE) and tweets at @amahmood72
This article was published in Express Tribune on February 09, 2016
Very good research and aticulation
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