Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday while addressing a conference on prison reforms said prisons should be transformed into centres of reform, rehabilitation and human dignity instead of merely serving as places of confinement.
He stressed that prisoners, despite being deprived of the right to movement, were entitled to fundamental human rights. Addressing the conference, the CM said meaningful prison reforms required coordinated efforts at every level, including the judiciary, to ensure timely dispensation of justice. He noted that a significant number of inmates across the country remained under trial contributing to overcrowding in prisons.
Shah said the objective should not be to construct more prisons but to rehabilitate inmates so they could return to society as responsible and productive citizens after completing their sentences. He added that the Sindh government had undertaken wide-ranging reforms aimed at improving prison conditions and strengthening rehabilitation initiatives.
Highlighting Sindh’s progress, the CM said the province was the first in the country to develop a comprehensive framework for prisoner rehabilitation. He said the provincial government was pursuing a policy of complete rehabilitation through education, vocational training and social reintegration programmes.
He revealed that Sindh’s prisons currently housed around 28,000 inmates despite having a capacity of only 14,000, underscoring the challenges posed by overcrowding. To address these issues, he said the government had introduced skill development programmes to help prisoners become financially independent after their release.
The CM said educational opportunities were available at every level in Sindh’s prisons. Prisoners could pursue matriculation, intermediate, graduation and master’s degree programmes through the Virtual University, while technical education and library facilities had also been introduced to enhance learning opportunities, he added
He described health care as a key pillar of prison reforms, saying special measures were being taken to prevent infectious diseases in prisons. He said every inmate underwent medical screening before entering jail and medical aid facilities were available in all the prisons.
Emergency response systems were also being strengthened to improve health care services for the prison inmates, he said. He informed the event that mental health of prisoners was receiving special attention as psychologists from government hospitals regularly visited the prisons. Twelve psychologist positions had been created for the prison department and would be filled soon to provide professional mental health support, the CM said.
He added that rehabilitation centres had already been established in the prisons and provision of quality food, clean drinking water and proper medical care to the prisoners was among the government’s top priorities.
Shah said work was under way on the Malir Jail Extension project to improve prison infrastructure and accommodate the growing inmate population. He emphasised that respect for the rule of law was essential for national progress, stating that countries that upheld the law consistently achieved sustainable development. He added that strengthening the rule of law also enhanced public confidence in the judiciary.
Calling for collective efforts, the CM said the government, judiciary and all relevant stakeholders must work together to make prisons true centres of reform and rehabilitation, ensuring that inmates were equipped to become responsible citizens and contributed positively to society after their release.
