Badin Open Jail: A second chance for those who transgressed the first time

The idea was to show respect, love and familial ties to help inmates back into society’s fold.

BADIN: Seventy-two-year old Muhammad Hayat Ansari barely remembers the events that led to his conviction. He was handed the death sentence about 35 years ago in a dual murder case - a verdict that was later converted to life imprisonment.

In view of Ansari’s good behaviour with the other inmates as well as the hard work he put in at the Hyderabad Central Jail, he was shifted to the Badin Open Jail where he spent over seven years with his family.

Ansari admits he does not remember much about the time when he was shifted to the Open Jail. He does, however, vaguely recall that he was brought in with 25 other inmates. The new group joined 82 prisoners already inhabiting the facility where they were meant to work on the Jail’s agriculture lands.



The Badin Open Jail, Pakistan’s only open jail according to jail officials, is located about 40 kilometers to the south of Badin city, in close proximity to the Arabian Sea and the Indian border - the Rann of Kutch. The jail’s land, according to official records, spans across 2,008 acres.

With neither a barrack nor a boundary wall to mark the facility’s limits, the jail has a few rooms for the officials and huts for the prisoners. Most of the inmates had established huts which they inhabited with their families. The inmates were bound to follow the authorities’ instructions, which, according to Ansari, were a lot more relaxed than those in other detention facilities. The prisoners had to leave for work to cultivate different seasonal crops early in the morning and would return by afternoon.

“The Open Jail was much better than other facilites,” he compared. “It was hard to meet relatives, friends and children in regular jails, but inmates were allowed to live with their families in Open Jail.” The only rule was that the inmate was bound to abide by the oath taken by authorities. “We weren’t allowed to go outside the land’s periphery. Inside the limits, the inmates were free to enjoy their time with their families.”

On the other hand, the jail authorities did not afford the expenditures of the inmates’ families. “The inmates were given meals for themselves, but not for their family members,” he reported. Their parents and other relatives had to bear the financial burden of the convicts’ family members.

The Jail’s superintendent, Agha Aftab Ahmed, recalled that the facility was actually established in 1958 during Ayub Khan’s era. “The inmates who were kept in this jail never committed any crime again,” he claimed.

He informed The Express Tribune that Open Jail not only reduced the burden from other jails - it also supported them financially. “All the crops, including wheat, rice and chilies were distributed equally among other facilities in the province,” he said.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Badin’s Open Jail saw a gradual but sure decline over many years. The shifting of inmates from major jails slowly reduced and about 15 years ago, it became almost non-functional. Taking notice of the agriculture land and the importance of the only such facility in the country, the Sindh government decided to re-open it in 2010. Not a single person, however, has been shifted to the historical facility yet.

The agriculture land of the Open Jail is no more in use as hardly 50 to 60 acres of land is being used through private contractors. From the jail superintendent to a peon, all the staff is available to manage the facility. This could reduce the burden on other facilities where thousands of prisoners are currently being detained.

“It will definitely have a positive impact if the authorities were to re-open it. Hundreds of inmates could be shifted there,” commented Ansari. He thinks the open jail provided him an opportunity to remain near with his children. “I committed a crime and was handed the death sentence but God gave me a chance to change my way of thinking when I lived close to my wife and children.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.