140 newborns are locked up with mothers in Punjab, KP’s jails; SCBAP reveals in report

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (SCBAP) on Wednesday submitted its response in the apex court regarding the number of prisoners in jails and informed that as many as 1,184 women were imprisoned across the country.

SCBAP President Syed Qalb-e-Hassan submitted report and said there were 1,527 people over the age of 60 in 114 prisons.

He said 140 newborns were also locked up with mothers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s jails.

The report said more than 33% of the extra prisoners were kept in various prisons across the country. 2100 prisoners were suffering from various physical ailments, it added.

The report said no ambulance service was available in 10% of Punjab’s jails. Around 2,400 people were suffering from deadly diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis, it added.

The SCBAP report said there were 58 vacancies of the psychiatrist lying vacant in the jails. In Punjab alone, 66 disabled prisoners were locked up in different jails, the report added.

The report said there were 108 vacancies of doctors lying vacant in the jails.

The number of TB patients in prisons was 173 and 594 prisoners suffered from mental illness in various jails across the country, it added.

The report said the number of convicted prisoners in prisons across the country was 25,456. The number of under-trial prisoners in the country was 48,008, it added.