Women Locked Up A Study of Prevailing Conditions in Punjab’s Women Prisons and a Human Rights Based Approach to Reform

Abstract

This research aims to assess the prevailing conditions in women jails across Punjab to see whether the international standards of treatment are being adopted to ensure the rights of women prisoners. The study is motivated by two questions. Firstly it inquires whether the Punjab Prison’s Code is in line in international standards, and implemented in its true spirit in reality. Secondly it asks whether prison conditions affect the physical and mental wellbeing of women prisoners. The study offers three hypotheses based on these questions: (1) The Punjab Prison Manual satisfies the necessary prison conditions and rehabilitation mechanism stated in the United Nations Bangkok Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (2) An implementation gap exists between the Punjab Prison Manual and the actual prison conditions in central jails of Punjab, (3) Prisoner treatment and prison conditions directly impact the prisoner’s physical and mental wellbeing. Previous literature indicates how adverse prison conditions have led to the deterioration of physical and mental wellbeing of prisoners, and how aspects of prison conditions like food, space, and lighting have been compromised in Pakistani jails. Our most important contribution is devising a research design that is representative and a research analysis that is extensive enough to understand the complex dynamics of Punjab’s women prisons. This thesis followed an extensive data collection mechanism that involved observing the prison conditions in the women sections of 6 central jails in Punjab and using data gathered from interviewing 144 women prisoners to analyse the physical and mental wellbeing of women prisoners and test all three hypotheses. We employed both quantitative methods (like cross tabbing, frequency analysis, weighted average scoring) and qualitative methods (like implementation assessment scales, and comparative analysis). At the end, the paper outlines recommendations on how current situation of Pakistan prison system can be improved. The recommendations draw inspiration from the best practices that are being implemented in advanced areas of the world and practical ways that Pakistan can adopt them in jails across Punjab.