There are presently 88,687 inmates in 116 jails of Pakistan against the approved capacity of 65,168 prisoners.
According to the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat, in the 10th quarterly report on the progress of implementation in improving conditions in jails, 1,399 female and 1,430 juvenile inmates are suffering in Pakistani jails.
The secretary in Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat, Ejaz Ahmed Khan, presented the report on Sunday in the Supreme Court in a suo motu case.
The report revealed that the Federal Ombudsman, Syed Tahir Shahbaz, conducted several meetings at the provincial headquarters with the chief secretaries, home departments, and IG Prisons of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.
Besides, the ombudsman instructed the provincial chief secretaries that the integrated biometric identification system with all the departments of the criminal administrative justice system with a common interface must become operational on a priority basis.
Furthermore, he said that the probation and parole system should be improved with better coordination.
The ombudsman was told that the drug addicts and mentally retarded inmates have been divided in all jails across Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the IG Prisons of Punjab stated that kits are also provided to all jails of the province for the screening of drug addicts for ten substances, adding that 86 water filtration plants had been made operational in jails of the province.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Punjab prisons department, the National Database and Registration Authority, and the Punjab Information Technology Board for the implementation of the biometric management system with all departments of the criminal justice system in the province.
The report also revealed that the interior ministry presented a progress report for the construction of a model jail in Islamabad.
