43 prisoners shifted to hospitals outside jails: report

Prisons IG submits details of prisoners’ medical treatment to SC

KARACHI: Forty-three prisoners - 32 under-trial suspects and 11 convicts - have been admitted in hospitals outside the province's 12 prisons for the purpose of medical treatment, the prisons inspector-general disclosed before the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday.

Over 190 inmates suffering from different diseases are being treated at the hospitals set up inside the prisons, showed a report submitted at the SC's Karachi Registry ahead of the likely hearing of a suo motu case regarding the transfer of former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, death row inmate Shahrukh Jatoi and others to hospitals outside prisons under the pretext of medical treatment.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken note of the practice and directed the prisons IG to submit a report on how many inmates were shifted outside the prisons - a practice where suspects or prisoners in high-profile cases enjoyed luxuries at government or private hospitals instead of serving their sentences in jails.

The prisons police chief's report showed that five convicts and six UTPs had been shifted from Central Jail, Karachi to hospitals for treatment.

Similarly, 10 inmates - eight UTPs and two convicts - were also shifted from Central Jail, Hyderabad for treatment at health facilities outside the jail premises.



The report showed that three prisoners were shifted outside from District Jail, Malir, two from Special Prison, Nara, one each from the Dadu and Badin district jails, four each from the Sukkur and Larkana central prisons, two each from Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Naushero Feroz district [prisons and one from District Jail, Ghotki.

Inside prison

The report revealed that 65 prisoners - 52 UTPs and 13 convicts - were under treatment at the hospital inside Central Jail, Karachi, 15 UTPs at District Jail, Malir and three UTPs at the Youthful Offenders Industrial School, Karachi.

Fifty-seven inmates - 36 UTPs and 21 convicts - were currently admitted to the hospital inside Central Jail, Sukkur, while 20 - 13 UTPs and seven convicts – were admitted to the hospital inside Central Jail, Hyderabad.