It is important for prison administrationsto treat their inmates ashuman beings and provide them with all the facilities that a citizen is entitled to
The jail department has never received enough attention from any government in Pakistan. Complaints of over-crowding, non-production of prisoners, their poor health and the lack of many facilities keep on landing on deaf ears. This leads to violence and revolt against the jail administration. By and large, conditions in the country’s prisons remain deplorable while jail functionaries and ministers have their own axe to grind.
The jail authorities often look to the NGOs, members of civil society and other organizations to launch various programmes in matters concerning under-trial prisoners (UTPs) and convicts. Health and education facilities also remain a big problem in many jails.
The recent initiative of the National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) to launch a three-month adult literacy programme (ALP) to address the education issue among prisoners should nevertheless be appreciated. The programme, based on phonetic technique, covers juvenile, women and adult prisoners in four prisons of Sindh, that is, Malir district jail, women jail, central jail, central prison Sukkur-I and II.
Under the 90-day programme, 90 prisoners between the ages of 15 and 39 of central and women prisons would be given education. It would be completed in two years and enable prisoners to read newspapers and have an understanding of elementary mathematics.
Phonetic technology is different from the conventional method of imparting education. Tests are conducted to ascertain one’s literacy. Inmates are given learners’ graduate certificates after the completion of courses, which are first approved by the Sindh prisons chief, Brigadier M.A.H. Ayaz Mughni.
NCHD’s Regional Literacy Coordinator (RLC), Major (retd) Mohammad Zafar Islam says the NCHD has set a target of achieving 86 per cent literacy rate in the country by 2015. It is currently 54 per cent. It is working in education, health and micro-financing sectors, with two education programmes of universal primary education for children of five to 14 years of age; and under the ALP, people of 15 to 39 years of age are given education.
The prescribed course books are provided by the Sindh Textbook Board (STB). NCHD’s master trainers give a three-day training of book-I, II & III to teachers, who get Rs1,500 per month. Mohammad Zafar says, 103 adult literacy centres (ALCs) are working in the Hyderabad district, followed by 150 in Thatta and 103 in Malir districts. “The community is being mobilized through social workers to encourage people to become part of the literacy programme. I was glad to see enthusiasm of people who want to learn in the remote areas and the coastal belt,” comments Islam.
The prison administration has successfully completed the course for Naib Mualim of 30 UTPs through Madressah Taleemul Quran. The course envisages basic principles of Islam like prayers, roza, and zakat. Besides, prisoners also have Hifz-i-Quran courses. Around half a dozen prisoners have separate courses through the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) while one prisoner has appeared in an FA examination.
“Jails in Pakistan are considered universities for crimes where prisoners are enslaved. They remain overcrowded with hardly any financial and human resources coming in to tackle such a large population of prisoners,” points out a prominent lawyer, Zia Awan, whose Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) monitors conditions in jails and works on women’s issues to provide them free legal aid.
Awan believes that prisoners await justice in jails. “I always think that prisoners can be transformed into a real human resource as they are very intelligent people.” Zia stresses the need for a comprehensive policy to change the system inside jails so that prisoners may be rehabilitated.
Praising NCHD’s adult literacy programme, he describes it as a positive step. “We need to have more rehabilitation programmes for jails like the current one,” he proposes.
“I missed my schooling as my father came from a poor family. I still want to be an educated man,” says a 13-year-old juvenile prisoner, Aijaz. He’s happy to acquire education in jail. Similar feelings are aired by other prisoners, who attend the programme in jail as prior to that they did not have any such opportunities.
Superintendent central jail Muzaffar Alam Siddiqui believes prisoners basically need a good behaviour therapy from jail staffers so that they get a feel of being treated in a humane manner and not like slaves. “The quality of ration has been improved and prisoners are served relatively better food these days,” he says.
At present, the situation in Hyderabad central prison, administration-wise, is said to be normal with no major complaints from the UTPs. The prison administration, however, must ensure that no student drop out of the programme.
The jail department has never received enough attention from any government in Pakistan. Complaints of over-crowding, non-production of prisoners, their poor health and the lack of many facilities keep on landing on deaf ears. This leads to violence and revolt against the jail administration. By and large, conditions in the country’s prisons remain deplorable while jail functionaries and ministers have their own axe to grind.
Under the 90-day programme, 90 prisoners between the ages of 15 and 39 of central and women prisons would be given education. It would be completed in two years and enable prisoners to read newspapers and have an understanding of elementary mathematics.
The prescribed course books are provided by the Sindh Textbook Board (STB). NCHD’s master trainers give a three-day training of book-I, II & III to teachers, who get Rs1,500 per month. Mohammad Zafar says, 103 adult literacy centres (ALCs) are working in the Hyderabad district, followed by 150 in Thatta and 103 in Malir districts. “The community is being mobilized through social workers to encourage people to become part of the literacy programme. I was glad to see enthusiasm of people who want to learn in the remote areas and the coastal belt,” comments Islam.
