By Minahil Makhdoom
RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail is packed beyond capacity, housing over 5,000 inmates, far more than its existing capacity of a little over 2,000, according to a report. The report furnished to the Ministry of Interior states that the prison has a staggering 257 per cent more prisoners than its sanctioned capacity as it houses 5,591 prisoners as against its maximum capacity of 2,174.
The inmates include 3,385 under-trial prisoners (UTPs) and 1,884 convicts, the report said, adding the prison also houses 322 inmates awaiting court verdicts in their cases. 1,430 of the prisoners kept in Adiala Jail belong to Islamabad while 300 prisoners have been brought from other provinces.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Human Rights had furnished a report to the Supreme Court on the measures it had been taking to contain the spread of the coronavirus among inmates, painting a grim picture of conditions in the country’s overpopulated prisons. The report stated prisons across Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are packed beyond capacity.
The report said Punjab’s 41 prisons house a total of 45,324 inmates, far more than the existing capacity of 32,000. Sindh’s 24 prisons are too overpopulated with 16,315 prisoners. The total sanctioned strength of the province’s jails is 13,538. Whereas, the situation in KP’s jails is no different where 9,900 prisoners have been incarcerated in 24 jails which should house 4,519. However, Balochistan’s prisons with the sanctioned capacity of housing 2,550 inmates have only 2,122 prisoners.
