Crowded prisons short on manpower

Punjab govt reduces height requirement for warders to get more recruits.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Prisons department faces a major manpower shortage across all grades, even while it must handle a growing inmate population in an overcrowded prisons system, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Prisons Department has 2,140 vacancies out of a total of 14,771 sanctioned posts in all categories from senior superintendent in BS-19 to subordinate officials in BS-1. The 32 jails in the Punjab together have a sanctioned capacity of 24,000, while they house 52,000 prisoners.

Owing to the shortage, many officials end up working overtime and occasionally have to give up their weekly holidays. Prisons Department officials said that the heavy work hours caused administrative and security problems.

Shortages

There are 603 posts in the department for officers from BS-21 to BS-16; 110 of these posts have been vacant for a long time. Of the 14,168 lower posts in the department, 2,030 are vacant.

There are 63 posts for male and female doctors and psychologists to work with prisoners. The department is short nine male doctors and five female doctors and the only post for a psychologist is empty. Hence strained medical facilities in prisons, already under stress from overcrowding, are further burdened.

There is a shortage of warders and superintendents too. Four of 15 senior superintendent posts, one superintendent post, 20 deputy superintendent posts and 53 assistant superintendent posts are vacant. A total of 1,394 of 9,080 warder posts (male and female) are vacant; 151 of 913 head warder; and 54 of 123 chief warder posts were vacant. The department is also short of cooks (nine of 32 posts are empty) and sanitary workers (117 of 1,242 posts empty).

The shortages are even graver if the Jail Manual is considered. According to the Manual, three officials are needed to look after and observe eight prisoners during a 24-hour period, each official handling an eight-hour shift. Under this formula, the prisons department would need about 19,500 warders to supervise the 52,000 inmates in the province.

Bad prisons

A Prisons Department official said that the lack of rest and off days was the root cause of corruption, cruelty and abuse of authority. He said that jail officials unhappy at the work hours were more likely to treat prisoners badly or get involved in illegal behaviour like the grant of special privileges in exchange for bribes. Furthermore, he said, the barracks for warders were in terrible condition. In some cases, the toilet and sanitation facilities in jail lines were worse than in prisons. He said the department had not received a good response to recruiting advertisements.

Prisons IG Mian Farooq Nazir said it was well known that manpower shortages caused administrative and security problems in prisons. He said the Punjab government had reduced the minimum height for a warder from 5 feet and 8 inches to 5 feet and 7 inches. He said the Punjab government had notified various facilities and pay raises and warders were being recruited, so he hoped the shortage would be reduced.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.