Pakistan inherited the Prisons System from the British as a colonial legacy. Prison as a place of punishment after conviction, is an 18th century concept. It was conceived of as a humanitarian alternative to corporal punishment. It was felt that confinement would help prisoners to become penitent and that penitence would result in reformation.
The Punjab Prisons Department was established in 1854 for Custody, Care and Control of prisoners confined in various central, district and special jails in the province of Punjab. Dr. C. Hathaway was appointed as first Inspector General (IG) of Prisons.
Legislation on Prisons
The colonial Government had through Regulation III of 1818 passed on the 7th April of the same year, for the confinement of state prisoner adopted a procedure to place any individual under personal restraint against whom there were no sufficient grounds to intimate judicial proceeding. Act No. IX of 1894 was passed by the Governor General of India in Council on the 22nd March. The said enactment came after Bombay Act II of 1874 which was applicable to civil jails in the Presidency of Bombay under the provisions of about eight section i.e Section 9 to 16. The Prisons Act was came into force on the 1st July 1894 comprising twelve chapters and sixty-two sections and detailing the provisions for maintenance of prisons, the duties of prison staff, discipline, right and obligations of prisoners.
Having received the assent of the Governor General on the 11th March 1897 was passed to amend the law relating to reformatory schools and to make further provision for dealing with youthful offender. After enactment of this law, the Reformatory Schools Act, 1876 was repeated.
Act III of 1900, the Prisoners Act, received the assent of the Governor General on 2nd February 1900 and came into force at once. It consolidated the exiting statutes relating to prisoners confined by order of acourt. It extended to the whole of British India inclusive of British Balochistan, the santal Parganas and the Pargana of Spiti. The Act included nine parts and fifty-three sections had guidance on admission, removal, discharge, attendance in court and employment of prisoners.
| Following jails were functional since the mentioned years, even before the Prisons Act of 1894: | ||||
| Central Jail Gujranwala | 1854 | District Jail Multan | 1872 | |
| District Jail Jhelum | 1854 | District Jail Shahpur | 1873 | |
| District Jail Rajanpur | 1860 | District Jail Faisalabad | 1873 | |
| District Jail Sialkot | 1865 | Borstal Institution & Juvenile Bahawalpur | 1882 | |
Presently there are Forty Four (45) Jails functional in the Province including Two (2) High Security Prison, Nine (9) Central Jails, Twenty Seven (27) District Jails, Two (2) Borstal Institutions & Juvenile Jails, One(1) Women Jail, One (1) Special Prison and Three (3) Sub Jails. Six (6) new Jails are under construction at the moment.
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