OVERCROWDED PRISONS IN PAKISTAN: UNDERSTANDING THE CRITICAL ROLE OF PROBATION, PAROLE OFFICERS AND COURTS
Prison is a place for rehabilitation of offenders in every country of the world. The present study has tried to explore the present-day situation of the prison system of Pakistan and discuss its overcrowding condition in all four provinces. There are total 120 prisons in the country which hold authorized space for not more than 57,712 prisoners, but the number of inmates is 77,275, which is far away from the authorized space. This congested prison system not only creates hurdles in rehabilitation of prisoners but makes them more criminal by mixing of low and high frequency offenders. It also leads to various health and behavioral problems. Rehabilitation is only possible if there is balance in authorized and available prisoners in the prisons. The present article has come up with some viable suggestion for concerned authorities that can better perform their duty in eradication of this problem. The authors discussed the role of parole and probation officers in the elimination of these numbers in prison. The majority of the prisoners in our prisons are under-trail, thus the role of the judiciary has also been explored in balancing the incarceration ratio in prisons. Keywords: Prison System, Overcrowded Prisons, Parole and Probation, Judiciary, Courts, Pakistan