PESHAWAR: A former prisoner on Wednesday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking its directions for the provincial government to conduct medical tests on all inmates for diseases and disclose the province’s prison population and capacity.

Sajjad Ahmad, a resident of Nowshera, filed a petition claiming that the number of people kept in prisons across the province was much more than the sanctioned capacity.

He said 640 people were kept in Swabi district prison against the capacity of 125 inmates.

The resident claimed that the recent medical tests revealed that 12 of the 126 inmates of the Swabi prison suffered from HIV and around 50 from hepatitis.

The petition was filed through former deputy attorney general Khursheed Khan. The respondents in it include the provincial government through chief secretary, home secretary and KP inspector general of prisons.

The petitioner said he was a student of the Margalla Medical College, Islamabad, and was arrested in a murder case.

He said he was awarded death sentence by the trial court, which was upheld by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, and that he was acquitted by the Supreme Court afterward.

The petitioner said he had spent 15 years in different jails before finally kept in Haripur Central Prison for years.

He said the province had 25 prisons including five central ones and that there were smalltime hospitals in some prisons, where appropriate health facilities were not available.

The petitioner said while influential prisoners were shifted to proper hospitals, guesthouses, the common prisoners lacked basic health facilities behind bars.

He claimed that analgesic tablets had mostly been given to ailing prisoners for most diseases.

The petitioner contended that among prisoners, the most marginalised were women, including those kept with children.

He prayed the court to order all district headquarters hospitals to conduct medical tests of all prisoners in their respective areas and produce reports to ascertain how many of them are suffering from serious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.

The petitioner requested the court to seek data of all women prisoners in the province and their children kept with them, and details of education facilities available to those children on the premises.

He also sought special directives for screening tests of all prisoners in Swabi district jail.

The petitioner said after receiving the required information about health conditions of prisoners and their number in different prisons, the court could issue appropriate orders for corrective measures.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018