Pakistan’s prison crisis has long been treated as a peripheral governance issue, addressed through sporadic policy announcements rather than sustained institutional reform. That may finally be changing. The National Conference on Prison Reforms, convened earlier this month by the Supreme Court under the auspices of the National Judicial (Policy-Making) Committee (NJPMC), produced an encouraging consensus among all four provincial governments: prison reform is not merely an administrative exercise but a constitutional, humanitarian and public safety imperative. The significance of the conference lay also in the recognition that prisons cannot be reformed in isolation. CJP Yahya Afridi aptly observed that prisons reflect the true pulse of the criminal justice system and stressed that meaningful reform demands shared institutional responsibility and sustained leadership from the provinces. He welcomed the provincial governments’ collective commitment to advancing the NJPMC’s National Prison Reform Action Plan through coordinated and practical measures. Equally important was his announcement that the Supreme Court has cleared the backlog of almost all death penalty appeals filed before the end of 2025, part of broader efforts to improve the criminal justice system.
Punjab alone operates one of the country’s largest prison systems, with 45 prisons housing more than 69,000 inmates despite an authorised capacity of around 39,000. Yet overcrowding is only one symptom of a deeper institutional malaise. Nearly three-fourths of these inmates are undertrial prisoners who have not been convicted of any crime. When prisons are filled primarily with people still awaiting trial, the problem lies not simply within prison walls but throughout the justice system itself. That is why activists are right to insist that judicial, police and prison reforms must proceed together and without delay. Successive governments have acknowledged the need for reform, yet meaningful implementation has remained elusive. Instead of serving as a neutral institution tasked with protecting citizens, the police are too often perceived as instruments of intimidation and political manipulation. At the same time, a sluggish judicial system frequently fails to deliver timely justice, leaving innocent people trapped in legal limbo. This dysfunctional ecosystem has entrenched Pakistan’s infamous thana-katchery culture, where ordinary citizens dread any interaction with the police or the courts. Reforming prisons without addressing these underlying failures would amount to treating the symptoms while ignoring the disease.
Prisons themselves urgently require transformation. Numerous reports over the years have documented the mistreatment and torture of inmates, conditions that violate both constitutional guarantees and basic human dignity. Thousands of undertrial detainees remain behind bars for months or even years because of procedural delays. There have also been disturbing instances in which individuals were executed despite serious doubts surrounding the evidence against them. The commitment expressed by all four chief ministers therefore deserves cautious optimism. Their declaration that prison reform is a constitutional, humanitarian and public safety imperative, coupled with a pledge to build a prison system that is lawful, humane, rehabilitative and consistent with the dignity of every individual, reflects the right vision. But Pakistan has heard similar promises before. The country cannot hope to build public confidence in rule of law while its prisons remain overcrowded, its courts overburdened and its police mistrusted.
