Abstract
This paper examined the impacts of overcrowding on the reintegration
of the prisoners with specific focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan)
jails. Triangulation method was adopted for data collection and
analysis. Four central jails and three district jails i.e., seven prison
were purposively selected from all the seven divisions of Khyberpakhtunkhwa province. Within seven jails 250 inmates were
interviewed through semi-structured questionnaire adopting random
sampling technique. Moreover, jail officials, ex-prisoners, human right
activists, judges and lawyers were purposively selected and their views
were taken through interview schedule. Throughout the study it was
found that overcrowding gave birth to various problems such as,
spread of chronic diseases, unhygienic environment, no effective
programmatic (educational, vocational, religious, psychological etc)
interventions, lack of check and balance, prisons’ rioting, nonclassification of the prisoners (on the basis of age, sex, nature of crime
etc). Moreover, the larger part of the budget as well as the main focus
of prisons’ staff was directed towards handling the huge prisons’
population, rather than ensuring rehabilitative setting. Fair and speedy
justice, construction of more jails, extension of existing jails,
alternative to imprisonment in petty nature crimes, efficient probation
and parole system and the rehabilitative prisons’ setting to overcome
the cycle of recidivism are suggested remedial measures.
Rais Gul. (2018) Overcrowding and its Impacts on the Reintegration of Prisoners in Selected Jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, The Dialogue, Volume 13, Issue 1.
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