Infectious diseases in jails

In an important way forward, the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, Justice Athar Minallah, has converted an inquiry commission on jail reforms, headed by Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, into an implementation commission to work on bringing about improvement in jail conditions across the country. “Shocking” is how the honourable chief justice reacted as he examined the contents of the inquiry commission’s report. Quite rightly, the miserable condition of the inmates is “a classic example of lack of rule of law”, as observed by the top judge of the Islamabad High Court.

Overcrowding, unclean barracks, filthy bathrooms, substandard meals, belligerent jail staff, harassing oversight mechanism, discouraging arrangements for relatives of the prisoners visiting jails, and lack of adequate facilities to gain knowledge and skills and make proper use of time spent behind bars are among the problems that receive scant attention from the authorities concerned despite being talked about time and again. However, the most shocking of all is an alarming lack of medical and clinical facilities which is resulting in a large number of prisoners contracting serious diseases, including those that are life-threatening.

According to the report presented to the court, amongst the total prison population of 75,813, as many as 5,100 inmates are not leading a healthy life. Of the total ailing inmates, 2,400 are suffering from contagious diseases like HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis; 2,100 have been affected by physical ailments; and 600 prisoners are mentally challenged. Such a big number of ailing inmates — who remain largely unattended to as well — speaks volumes of the apathy, disregard and indifference of state functionaries towards ordinary citizens. As ordered by the honourable judge, the commission must take urgent steps in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Health and the chief secretaries of the respective provinces, particularly with regard to the prisoners suffering from infectious diseases.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2020.

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