THE Borstal Jail complex in Faisalabad which was completed recently after 12 years at a cost of Rs60 million, has become a virtually haunted “ghost house” even before being commissioned.

It was originally conceived as a useful project and named as “Shifting of the Bahawalpur Borstal Jail to Faisalabad” because the building of the Borstal Jail in Bahawalpur had completed its technical life and was fit to be demolished. Moreover, Bahawalpur was remote and isolated having no convenient rail or road links with various parts of the Punjab.

Relatives of juvenile delinquents used to find it too hazardous and costly to travel all the way to Bahawalpur to meet their kin.

The decision to shift the Borstal Jail was meant to set up a full-fledged jail, duly equipped according to the standard required under the Pakistan Prisons Rules.

The decision became a reality on July 8, 1989, when the project costing Rs34,833 million was approved by the provincial government. It envisaged the construction of barracks and ancillary buildings for juvenile offenders spread over an area of 68 acres with a covered area of about 23 acres. The site for the project was selected near the Central Jail, Faisalabad, adjacent to the Punjab Constabulary Battalion Police Lines, Makuana.

According to architects and building experts, the present site has not been selected by the authorities prudently. The underground water is brackish to the extent of being nearly poisonous and injurious for human consumption. Experts are of the view that despite making a huge investment and installing a treatment plant, the jail authorities cannot ensure supply of sweet drinking water to the inmates.

The history of this project reveals a pathetic and regrettable attitude of the Home Department and the jail authorities. The construction moved at a snail’s pace, but the financial wizards of the provincial government never realized how much extra cost would it involve and how much suffering would it cause to the inmates who were required to be shifted on a priority basis to save them from the torture chamber of the old jail as well as to reduce the miseries of their relatives visiting Bahawalpur from far-flung areas.

One can easily imagine the extent of the loss in the project, which, according to the original schedule, was to be completed about eight years ago.

The details of release of funds for the project as collected by this correspondent are as under:

Owing to the peculiar strategy of the government to release funds in small instalments, the pace of construction never gathered momentum. It took almost 12 years to complete various blocks. An idea of the state of affairs can be judged from the fact that the administration block was completed on May 8, 1996, at a cost of Rs10.757 million, while the dormitories section was completed between May, 1992, and November, 1995, for 64 prisoners. A mosque was completed at a cost of Rs4.45 million.

Despite completion of a major portion of this project almost 11 months ago, the jail authorities failed to realize what would happen if it was not brought into use and made functional.

A visit to the jail showed that substandard material has been used in its construction. The roads, walls, floors and roofs of almost all the completed areas have developed cracks, and pits are visible everywhere. Pathetic seems to be the condition of roads within the jail’s outer walls. They give an impression as if they had been completed decades ago. One will not believe that these roads are in such a shabby condition without being used for a single day. The berms and pavements on both sides of the roads are also in a deplorable condition. The lawns, grassy plots and other open spaces have been dominated by wild shrubs and give an ugly look.

According to Rule 295 of the Pakistan Prisons Rules, “all juveniles shall receive careful individual attention. The features of their treatment will be sustained work; physical, mental and moral training with a view to teach them self-discipline; and careful arrangement for their future after discharge. The aim of prison treatment shall be to give the young offenders whose mind and character are still pliable, such training as is likely to create in them a high standard of social behaviour”.

Likewise Rule 299 says: “Physical drill, gymnastics, indoor and outdoor games and training in scouting shall be provided for all inmates; instructions in first aid and sanitation be regularly imparted; and a spacious playground be provided in jails.”

It is a pity that despite clear-cut mandatory provisions and obligations, no government paid any attention to such an important task.

It was observed that the British had built a juvenile prison in Lahore which was being used for the lodging of young offenders. In 1965, it was demolished and the inmates were shifted to the Central Jail, Bahawalpur, which was built in 1886, and is till now being used as borstal jail. It is also in a shabby condition.

The Borstal Jail of Bahawalpur, according to the information gathered by Dawn, lacks all the basic requirements for juvenile offenders. Currently, there are 562 juveniles languishing in it against an authorized capacity of 435. In this jail are attached a carpet factory, shoe-making and tailoring shops where juveniles are forced to do hard labour for more than 10 hours daily without any reward or benefit.

The agony of the inmates and the negligence of the government functionaries can be judged from the fact that there are over 3,400 juvenile offenders languishing in various jails of the province. They are virtually confined to their barracks and are not allowed to come out and mix up with adult prisoners.

The jail authorities reportedly have been exploiting the situation stemming from the lack of independent barracks and reasonable space in jails as well as non-existence of the borstal jail. Allegedly, they have been plundering the relatives and visitors on the plea that they have to confine them in isolation as the law requires that they should not be locked with the adults.

There are also reports of sexual harassment of juvenile prisoners. According to jail sources, the young offenders are also tortured and inhumanly treated. Majority of them belong to the poor class and their deplorable plight is unexplainable.

One feels really upset that the provincial government instead of taking into account the sorry state of affairs and developing independent jails with the required infrastructure in consonance with the Pakistan Prisons Rules has even failed to make functional the Borstal Jail, Faisalabad, having a capacity for 300 inmates.

When contacted, the Punjab inspector-general of prisons, Muhammad Husain Cheema, said so far the formal staff according to the strength of jail could not be posted. Temporarily 15 members of the staff, including the superintendent, were being posted for making the jail functional. He hoped the jail would become operational within a month or so for which the convicts belonging to Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Gujranwala divisions currently lodged in the Borstal Jail, Bahawalpur, would be shifted.

He said the authorized capacity of the Faisalabad Borstal Jail was 300, and it would be enhanced gradually by adding new barracks for which sufficient land was available. In the Punjab, over 3,700 juveniles, including the under-trial prisoners, were lodged in various jails. In the Borstal Jail, Bahawalpur, some 562 convicts had been housed against the capacity of 435, he said.