The way forward: Over 1,900 jail inmates rehabilitated from 19 districts

Directorate of Reclamation and Probation releases first-ever annual report.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Reclamation and Probation has managed to rehabilitate over 1,900 inmates through rehabilitation and counselling sessions conducted between 2013 and 2014.

This was stated in an official report for this period which was unveiled during a programme held at a hotel in the provincial capital on Wednesday. This is the first ever official report prepared by the directorate.

According to the report, the directorate has rehabilitated inmates free-of-cost while reducing the strain on the government exchequer.

“Until October 2014, 2,878 inmates were in K-P prisons,” it stated. “Of these, 1,948 were rehabilitated by probation officers.”

The report added the counselling services had helped reduce imprisonment figures by around 40%.

“Among those who have been rehabilitated, 98% are men while 88% belong to rural areas,” it added.



During the programme, Naimatullah Khan, the department’s director, said probation and reclamation officers also held counselling sessions with 84 women inmates and four juvenile prisoners.

Need of the hour

Other speakers said the directorate was functional in 19 out of 25 districts across the province.

They also urged relevant officials to extend the directorate’s operations to the remaining districts.

Establishment Department Special Secretary Syed Alamgir Shah said the directorate had been neglected in the past.

Long-term solution

Shah also emphasised the need to highlight the importance of the directorate’s activities as inmates return to society once they have completed their term. “People should hate crime and not the criminal after he has served his sentence,” Shah said.

According to Shah, various countries are contemplating the possibility of discarding the concept of prisons in favour of a system where inmates gain sufficient training to ensure they are reintegrated into society.

“Buildings have been constructed for borstals in Bannu and Haripur,” he said. “However, they have not been used as yet. I strongly urge the relevant authorities to take immediate steps in this regard.”

Aitebaar Technical Adviser Sohail Shahzad said the project was being funded by the UK’s Department for International Development.

“We have been working closely with police and organisations involved with community dispute resolution,” he said. “This will strengthen trust between citizens and the government.”

Aitebaar is a four-year UKAID-funded programme, implemented in collaboration with the K-P government.

It works with the government and policymakers to initiate reforms in the provision of security and justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2015.