LAHORE Hugely overburdened, the Directorate of Reclamation and Probation, Punjab, is losing it efficiency and effectiveness. Interestingly, there is only one probation officer available to handle approximately 347 convicts released by courts on probation or parole. Under section 5 of Probation of Offenders Ordinance, 1960, a court may release the felonies on probation who are convicted in offences having punishment less than seven years, and in case of females all crimes, expect death sentence. The court looks into nature of the offence and the character of the offender before issuing the order. The convicts may be released on probation for a period ranging from one to three years and they are given under the supervisions of probation officers for their rehabilitation. Presently, 18066 convicts are on probation in different districts of the Punjab, says a report complied by Directorate of Reclamation and Probation Punjab. However, only 77 probation and parole officers are taking care of rehabilitation process. Only 9 probation officers are dealing with 2200 probationers in the 4 districts of Lahore Division. Situation is worse in Gujranawala division where six probation officers are available for 4,238 probationers. In Rawalpindi Division, five officers are appointed while the number of probationers is 1,373. A total number of 2,811 probationers are under observation of five officers in Faisalabad division. In Sargodha division, five officers are assigned to rehabilitate 1,171 probationers. Multan division has 1,708 probationers and five probation officers. Five probation officers are monitoring 1,527 probationers in Bahawalpur division. In D.G Khan, the number of probationers is 1,040 while the number of probation officers is five. Sahiwal has 1,998 probations and four officers. As far as the number of parolees in the province is concerned, there are 142 parolees under observation of 17 parole officers. The statistics of the report state that 226 female and 249 juvenile, including one female, probationers are in recovery process. A deputy director of the Reclamation and Probation, Punjab Directorate, Anjum Pervaiz, talking to The News, said that there was an emergent need for strict implementation of parole and probation laws. Proper enforcement of the laws would not only help reduce the number of prisoners in jails but also provide an opportunity for their reformation and rehabilitation. He regretted that only 77 officers are dealing with more than 18,000 probationers, which is hindering the rehabilitation process. He said that it was humanly impossible for a probation officer to provide counseling and write reports about 347 probationers. Most of the probation officers were unable to provide counseling to the probationers at the doorstep due to lack of transportation facilities. He said that total population in all prisons of the province was less than 25,000 while the Reclamation Department had more than 18,000 probationers and paroles. The amount of funds allocated for the Reclamation Department in the budget is only Rs. 70 million. He said that the Directorate had not only reduced the burden of already overcrowded jails but also financially reduced monetary deficit up to Rs. 400 million. He said probation officers were doing noble cause to help criminals spend normal lives.
