SC orders sessions judges to inspect conditions of jails across country

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered sessions judges across the country to conduct inspections of district jails and submit a signed report in two weeks.

Hearing a case related to the condition of jails for women, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar directed the sessions judges to work on a war-footing and submit the reports to the federal ombudsperson.

During the hearing, the chief justice inquired as to the conditions of women’s jails, asking if there are proper toilets and sleeping facilities there.

The court also sought a reply from the federal ombudsperson on the report submitted by the Punjab government on jail conditions.

The reality of prisons in Karachi

In the last five months, about nine prisoners have died in Central Jail, while six in Malir Jail

Chief Justice Nisar remarked during the hearing that they will give directions to the inspector generals of jails across the country, adding that they are yet to receive a satisfactory reply on the matter.

'If courts have to do everything, why's govt there' 

Regarding the long-pending Islamabad jail which is yet to be completed, the court was informed by a representative of the city that the project’s PC-1 was made in 2016.

The chief justice remarked that the boundary wall of the site has shattered and people have taken away the bricks.

He observed that the Adiala Jail [in Rawalpindi] is 22 kilometers away from the capital and bringing prisoners from there to Islamabad for hearings is an arduous task.

“If the court has to do everything then what is the purpose of the government,” the chief justice remarked.