The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Aug 2 passed the KP Probation and Parole Bill, 2021, to replace several decades old laws on the subject in the province.

Once the provincial governor gives assent to the passed bill, the two laws – Probation of Offenders Ordinance, 1960, and the Good Conduct Prisoners’ Probational Release Act, 1926 – will stand repealed to the extent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The existing probation ordinance provides for the release on probation of prisoners in certain cases, whereas the 1926 Act deals with conditional release of prisoners on parole for good conduct in certain cases before completion of their prison terms.

Through the new law, the government has consolidated the existing laws and made wide-ranging changes in the conditions and mechanisms provided therein for releasing convicted prisoners on probation or parole.

The new law will further enhance the role of Directorate of Reclamation and Probation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as it would be responsible for its effective implementation and rules made under it. It provides that the directorate should be headed by a director.

Moreover, a probation officer will be responsible to formulate a pre-sentencing report of an offender which should be placed on judicial file after consideration of the court for releasing him on probation.

The said report should provide to the court a complete profile of the probationer, including psychological, sociological, family, employment and other relevant information.

In the probation ordinance, male and female convicts could be released on probation if they were not convicted in certain categories of cases.

Having regard to circumstances of the case and character of the offender, a court can order release on probation of a female convict of any offence other than an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment.

Similarly, a male convict could be set free on probation in an offence other than punishable with death or life imprisonment, or falling under Chapters VI (offences against state), Chapter VII (offences related to Army, Navy and Air Force) and some other provisions of Pakistan Penal Code.

The court is empowered to make a probation order requiring a male or female convict to be under supervision of a probation officer for a period of not less than one year or more than three years.

Unlike the probation ordinance wherein the convict can’t be released on probation in certain categories of offences, the recently passed bill provides that all competent courts have jurisdiction to pass a sentence of probation when an accused is found guilty of an offence under any law.

It provides that the court may place a convict on probation in accordance with sentencing guidelines in addition to specified conditions.

The duration of probation period in any case may not be less than six months or more than three years, provided that no repeated convict shall be sentenced to probation.

It further provides that in any case in which a person is convicted of any offence carrying a maximum punishment of two years, the court, having regard to the age, character or physical and mental conditions of the offender, instead of sentencing him to any fine or imprisonment, release him after due admonition.

If the court deems appropriate, it can sentence a convict to imprisonment, fine or both and then release him through the suspension of that sentence provided that the convict does not commit any other offence during the period of suspended sentence.

The passed bill includes several conditions for consideration of the court while passing a probation order, including age and gender of the convict, psychological and physical condition of the convict, pre-sentencing report submitted to the court by the probation officer after conviction and before sentencing, the nature of the offence committed, etc.

Similarly, the good conduct prisoners’ law, which is almost a century old, empowers the provincial government to issue a license of release of a convicted prisoner if it appears to the government from his conduct in the prison that he is likely to abstain from crime and lead a useful life, if he is released from prison. The government may revoke a license of release of a prisoner anytime.

The passed bill envisages setting up of a parole committee at the provincial level to be headed by an additional secretary of the home department and includes the inspector general of prisons, the director of the reclamation and probation directorate and two persons from civil society as it members.

There shall also be a parole sub-committee constituted at each prison level, which should be headed by the respective prison’s superintendent. The sub-committee may recommend to the parole committee to release a convicted prisoner on parole if it appears from his conduct that he is likely to abstain from crime if he is released.

A prisoner serving a prison term shall be entitled to parole on undergoing the minimum period of imprisonment as prescribed under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Legal experts on the subject believe that the existing laws on this subject had not been properly implemented.

They said that the recently-passed bill provided several powers to the courts and the government bodies, including the parole committee and sub-committee, and if they effectively exercised those powers it would help in reducing the population in prisons across the province.

At the same time, they said that there should be proper mechanism for checking misuse of the law by the relevant forums.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2021