7,000 prisoners walk free in Pakistan

LAHORE, October 06 (Internews): The Prisons Department in Pakistan’s populous Punjab province released about 7,000 prisoners on Eid-ul-Fitr last week, Inspector General (Prisons) Farooq Nazir said here Monday.

He said that currently there were more than 57,000 prisoners still confined in Punjab jails and added that before Eid, more than 64,000 prisoners were confined to the walls of several Punjab jails. He said that they, with the help of the Punjab government, NGOs and other social organisations, released about 7,000 prisoners on Eid.

Nazir said that the release of the prisoners had decreased the population at the overcrowded prisons, adding that the Punjab government paid the fines in the form of Diyat, Daman and Arsh for those prisoners who had completed their sentences but were still locked up because they could not pay the fines.

He said that special remission from President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also helped the jail authorities to release the prisoners. He said that the judges of various courts had only released about 1,500 prisoners by taking surety bonds from them and by accepting their bails.

He said that the Prison Department had been planning this for the last five years, adding that it was only made possible with the help of the Punjab government.

However, according to Prison Department sources, overcrowding at Punjab jails has increased by about 21 per cent during past four months. They said that now they are overcrowded by 198 per cent. They alleged that 65,000 prisoners were confined in the jails’ walls before Eid.

Senior Prison Department sources said that about 59,550 prisoners had been confined at 32 jails against the authorised accommodation of 21,527 until May 31.

They alleged that the increase of under trial prisoners showed that the crime rate has increased during the last four months. They, however, said that a decrease in the number of condemned prisoners has also been observed during last four months.

They said that before Eid, about 900 females, more than 1,200 boys and about 7 girls, were also confined to Punjab jails.

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