Drug addiction common in Pakistan jails

Islamabad, Pakistan:

The report revealed that Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail and Lahore’s District Jail are the two prisons where cases of drug addiction among the inmates are reported, according to Dawn.

According to the report, the inspection by the commission revealed that out of 3,800 inmates in the District Jail, around 900 were drug addicts, while the number in Adiala Jail stood at about 1,404.

Citing the report, Dawn stated that the prisoners in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail are subjected to slapping, whipping, solitary confinement and other forms of torture and that the prisoners were also thrashed with leather straps while some were taken to jail within the jail.

“[The] cases of death and allegations of torture and sexual abuse by prisoners and prison staff who have not been subjected to effective investigation,” the report added highlighting that the financially well-off inmates paid money to live in better conditions in the cell.

Notably, the Adiala prison has the capacity to house 2,174 inmates while currently, 6,098 prisoners were being held there.

According to the report by NCHR, “The situation of prisoners [in Adiala Jail] is abysmal – torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, daily extortion of money, coupled with lack of food, proper sanitation and housing makes the entire facility one of human degradation. Staff remain unsanitised and deeply entrenched in a mafia-like system. There is little or no accountability,” reported Dawn.