Prisoners conjugal rights: Govt asked to reopen family quarters in jails

MANSEHRA: The family quarters established in jails by the Muttahida Majlis-Amal government in 2005 to provide conjugal rights to inmates and their spouses couldn’t be made operational again after being closed in 2012 when the militancy reached its peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The family quarters are still functional in Punjab and other provinces, but these were closed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2012 because of terrorism and should be reopened,” a group of convicted prisoners at the district jail told reporters here on Monday.

The then chief minister Akram Khan Durrani had inaugurated the family quarters in 2005 at the central jails across the province but all such facilities were closed down by the government in 2012 fearing jailbreaks.

The family quarters were established initially in the central jails in Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Mardan and Haripur and could be established in Mansehra, Abbottabad and the rest of such 36 jails where the convicted prisoners are confined in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but that strategy couldn’t be materialised because of the deteriorating law and order in the province.

“I have been facing a nine years jail term but my wife cannot visit me because of my conservative background and if the family quarters are restored or established here, she could spend four days with me on my successive terms,” Shamim Khan, an inmate from Battagram said.

Another condemned prisoner, Mohammad Ibrahim, said the government was making efforts to rehabilitate inmates and provide them with the basic necessities, why they were being deprived of spending time with their spouses.

“My uncle was released from central jail of Haripur after completing life term and I used to take his wife there where she used to live for four days with him in the family quarters after every four to five months on his term,” Ibrahim said.

Abdu Qayyum, a former jail superintendent who retired in 2018, said a convicted prisoner of five years or above in jail could spend four days with his spouse after every four months. “If an inmate had two wives, he was entitled to spend five days or four nights with them on his respective term,” he said.

When approached, Majid Ghufran, deputy director of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prison Department, said the family quarters were established to provide an opportunity for the prisoners to spend some time with their wives. He added that the law and order had improved in the province and such facilities could be reopened anytime.