KARACHI, Oct 13: The prisoners in the jails of the Sindh province are facing numerous problems owing to overcrowding resulting in unhygienic conditions, deficiency in sleeping facilities and spread of diseases among prisoners.
This was stated by Aaqil Lodhi, chairman of Human Rights Committee of the Sindh Bar Council and president of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, who expressed his grave concern over the condition of around 20 prisons in Sindh.
He also released the statistics, according to which the total capacity of the Karachi central jail is about 1,691 while currently 5,500 prisoners are being lodged there.
Capacity of District Malir Jail is about 893 while it is accommodating 2,999 prisoners. Juvenile Jail has a total capacity of 350 while it has 589 inmates. The capacity of Women Prison Karachi is about 102 while there are 126 female inmates.
With a capacity of 1,527 prisoners, the Central Jail Hyderabad has about 3,000 inmates. Similarly, Women Jail Hyderabad has a capacity of 150 but 800 female inmates were lodged there and the Nara Jail Hyderabad has 600 inmates against the capacity of about 300.
District Dadu Jail has a capacity of 250 while it is accommodating about 298 inmates. The Sukkur Jail has a capability to deal with 1,498 prisoners while it has 2,482 inmates, Sukkur Jail-II has capacity of 550 while it is accommodating about 600 inmates, Woman Jail Sukkur is dealing with 121 female prisoners while it has capacity of 30 inmates.
District Jail Jacobabad has a capacity of 250 while it is accommodating 491 inmates. District Jail Badin is accommodating 400 prisoners while its capacity is about 250. District Jail Nawabshah has a capacity of 100 prisoners while it is dealing with 300. District Sanghar Jail has 601 inmates while its capacity is about 250. Mirpurkhas Jail can accommodate 75 inmates while it has 221 prisoners. Larkana Jail has capacity of 410 while it has about 1,300 inmates, Women Prison Larkana has a capacity of 110 and it is accommodating about 190 female inmates. The capacity in Central Jail Khairpur is 526 while it has 900 inmates.
Mr Lodhi demanded of the president, prime minister, Sindh governor and chief minister to announce amnesty prior to Eid using discretionary powers so that the prisoners could heave a sigh of relief.—PPI
