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Pakistan as it contemplates comprehensive prison reforms implementation has to deal with the structural problems of the criminal justice system.
The Islamabad High Court's comments that the country's prisons have turned into "epicentres of crime, corruption and corrupt practices" are hardly surprising, according to the Dawn. While hearing a case about the maltreatment of prisoners in jails on Monday, the Islamabad High Court's chief justice remarked that "elite capture" also seemed to prevail in prisons as those with power exploited the system, aided by the prison authorities. The description of Pakistan's prisons could serve as a precursor of the country's overall criminal justice system. Also, the overcrowding of prisons, not investing in the salaries and training of prison staff and a lack of resources have all contributed to prisons' inability to fulfil their role as venues of reformative justice, according to Dawn. Earlier, a number of reforms have been carried out in the area of prosecution and policing, successive governments have failed to accord priority to prisons and their staff. Further, prison reforms are compounded by the lack of capacity of the prison staff in Pakistan combined with a situation where their transfers and promotions are often compromised on account of political interference thereby allowing exploitation by criminal elements. The authorities will be forced to allow reformatory premises to be turned into dens of crime. As a starting point, they can note their domestic and international commitments and work towards reforming a faulty criminal justice system that has neither curbed law-breaking behaviour nor emphasised the rehabilitation of prisoners, according to the Dawn. (ANI)
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