KARACHI, Dec 20: The Karachi Central Jail is ridden with corruption, according to information gathered from different sources by Dawn. A concerted effort is being made at different points to extort as much money as possible from the prisoners. “This is then shared by key persons at different levels,” says a prisoner.

One way to extort money is to make life as hard as possible, particularly for new arrivals, so that they are ready to pay the amount demanded for some relief, according to a letter from a prisoner to Dawn. This includes depriving new prisoners of sleep. “They are made to lie in toilets and just outside the foul-smelling place in Barracks No 3.”

Prisoners are also made to lie sideways facing the wall, then pushed against each other by the muqaddams with their feet so that there is no space left in between. This way they cannot change position all night, and if somebody gets up to relieve himself, he cannot find place to lie down again.

New arrivals, particularly those with “good jobs,” can be put in the Bund ward to extort money from them. One prisoner describes this as a “black room full of mosquitoes,” another mentions three to four rooms painted in dark colours “so as to incite fear;” yet another speaks of a room with dirty engine oil spread on the floor and covering the walls so that “a prisoner cannot lie, sit or lean against the wall.”

This is not all. One of the “torturers” here is said to be a prisoner who has served his sentence, but is still in the jail for reasons best known either to the authorities or to himself. All the three prisoners speak of him as the key figure in the bribe-collection drive in the prison.

Different rates have been fixed for relief from the prison rigours, according to the prisoners. For respite from hard labour it is Rs20,000; for change of Barracks No 3 it is Rs5,000; for a bedding, Rs5,000. The heads of those who can’t pay at all “are shaved and so are their beards and moustaches.”

Old prisoners also have to dish out money. For court production, Rs500 (the cases of those who cannot pay do not proceed); for meeting with family in an official’s room Rs500 to Rs1,000.

The former superintendent, Sarwar Jamali, was a “good man,” according to one old-time prisoner. He had made arrangements for a general store where the prisoners could purchase some items of daily need at lower prices. “Now the prices have shot up,” he comments and quotes the following prices: Rs70 for a big bottle of Pepsi; Rs30 for a cigarette packet, “double the price outside;” Rs20 for a cake of soap “instead of Rs14,” and so on.

Prisoners were also disappointed that they were no longer paid for labour, which was the norm during the “Jamali days.” At the dhobi ghat he had set up, the charges for washing a shalwar-kameez was Rs5; Rs10 if also ironed and Rs15 if washed, starched and ironed. “This money was given to the prisoners who worked there.” But now, this practice has ceased.

It is the same for those who work on the carpet looms. “Although the finished carpets are sold to the showrooms.”

And they claimed, the same holds true for those weaving cloth on the looms.

“Reconditioning stolen cars and changing their colour, chassis and engine number” is a money-making racket started recently in the prison, claims one prisoner. This work, according to him, is being done in the prison garage. However, this report was not confirmed by other prisoners.

Although each and every item that the prisoners receive from outside is thoroughly checked, drugs are being sold in the prison. “A 6-7-inch stick of charas sells for Rs1,000; 5grams of heroin for Rs1,500 and 18 tablets of an addictive drug for Rs300.” Prisoners believed that some guards were responsible for smuggling in the drugs “with the connivance of a high official.”

When a prisoner has served his sentence and the release orders come from the court, he may still be held back by the prison authorities on one or the other pretext. “He is told another case has been lodged against him, or his name is misspelt in the orders, or some such thing. The delay ends when his family pays some amount under the table.”

Even after release, a well-to-do person “risks re-arrest.” According to one prisoner, “As soon as such a prisoner emerges from the prison gates he may be picked up by a police mobile. Fresh charges are levelled against him. But all ends well when money changes hands.” Police, claims the prisoner, know the exact moment of the prisoner’s release because of the nexus between some high prison officials and a certain DIG police.

Don’t the prisoners complain? “Our letters do not reach the IG or the home secretary because certain officials in these offices prevent this. Besides, anyone caught writing such a letter is sent to the Bund ward.”

The prisoners had little faith even in the occasional visits of sessions judges. “On Oct 2, a team of district sessions judges, with the home secretary, visited the prison. But even after their visit there was no change in the jail conditions.”