KARACHI, Dec 27: The Special Prison for Women in the city is overcrowded as against the sanctioned capacity of just 150, more than 300 people have been kept there, it is learnt.
According to sources out of the 306 people currently living in the jail, 258 are (women) prisoners and others are their minor children who have to stay along with their convicted or under-trial mothers.
Eighty-seven of the 258 women prisoners are foreigners. The number of convicts among the foreigners is almost three times than the local nations because an alien would immediately plead guilty to avoid a long process of litigation. The sources pointed out that out of the 87 foreigners, 30 were convicts whereas only 17 of the 171 local nationals appeared to be convicts.
Responding to queries by Dawn, Superintendent of the prison Sheeba Shah said that almost all the foreigners were involved in drug trafficking. She said that the highest number of the local prisoners faced a trial under the Hudood Ordinance, followed by murder, theft, robbery, etc.
She pointed out that there were a few women who were facing Hudood cases after being named in the FIRs lodged by the parents of those girls who had married the sons of the nominated accused. At times, even sisters and sisters-in-law of the boys land in prison after having been nominated as accused.
She said that now that the prisoners coming from Sindh interior had been shifted to the other jails located in the interior, all the prisoners here were being produced in the courts on the date of case hearing. Usually 25 to 30 hearings are fixed every day whereas a vehicle having a capacity of about 45 prisoners comes to the jail to take them to the courts.
The jail official said that more than 15 inmates had been granted bails but they had to stay in the prison because they appeared unable to furnish the surety amount - between Rs25,000 and Rs200,000.
She said that efforts were being made to provide better facilities to the inmates. A dental unit, with the assistance of the Citizens Social Services, an NGO, had been established in the jail clinic and a dentist visited the jail every week, she added.
Recently, the inmates availed the opportunity to get done their bone mass density test, which is an expensive test to check a person's calcium deficiency. Around 20 per cent of the inmates were found to be in need of treatment and were provided with the same accordingly.
Ms Shah, however, mentioned that the jail did not have an ambulance, owing to which the jail authorities faced problems in shifting a sick prisoner to some hospital. Sometimes, she added, an Edhi ambulance was sent for but in some cases a vehicle belonging to a jail official had to be used.
She said that with the donation of five computers, a computer centre had been established in the jail. At present, 15 inmates were taking the course and efforts were also being made to get the course recognized by some organization so that a certificate could be issued to the students, she added.
