Jails shouldn't turn 'misguided youth' into 'criminal': Bilawal lauds prison reforms
- By Web Desk -
- May 17, 2019
KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday lauded the Sindh government’s initiative to bring prison reforms to ensure fundamental rights of inmates and their rehabilitation into society as law-abiding and productive citizens.
“1st step towards prison reform. Pakistani prisons shouldn’t be a place where you enter as misguided youth & exit a hardened criminal,” he tweeted. “We need rehabilitation & reintegration as a productive member of society to be our goal. Current system is 125yrs old & it’s not working.”
Earlier, in a tweet, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Law, Information and Anti-corruption Barrister Murtaza Wahab announced that the Sindh government is all set to pass Sindh Prisons & Corrections Service Act 2019.
“Sindh will become the first Assembly to legislate on this issue in 125 years. This law lays emphasis on the rights & dignity of prisoners to integrate them in society,” he added.
1st step towards prison reform. Pakistani prisons shouldnt be a place where you enter as misguided youth & exit a hardened criminal. We need rehabilitation & reintegration as a productive member of society to be our goal. Current system is 125yrs old & it’s not working. #Sindh https://t.co/78AcCr0KKN
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 17, 2019
In Jan this year, the provincial cabinet had approved the Sindh Prisons and Correction Act 2019, discarding the more than 100-year-old punitive Prison Act of 1894.
The new law is aimed at confining all prisoners in safe custody, ensuring their fundamental rights and their rehabilitation into society as law-abiding citizens.