C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 003672

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SNAR PK
SUBJECT: PRISON RIOTS PROMPT CALLS FOR REFORM

Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b), (d).


1. (C) Summary: Four prison riots in rapid succession in
mid-October prompted NGO leaders to call for systemic reform.
The problems stem from extreme overcrowding, severe health
and sanitation risks, inequities within the prison
population, and lengthy pre-trial detention. Conviction
rates in Pakistan are between five and fifteen percent; yet
the average length of pre-trial incarceration often exceeds
the statutory penalty. NGO leaders suggest needed reforms
include pre-trial release for defendants facing sentences
shorter than three years and changes to Pakistan's 19th
Century criminal procedure code. GOP officials as high as
Prime Minister Gilani are advocating to end the death penalty
and improve prison conditons. Department support for funding
a prison census and/or NGO proposals to study prison data
would help address systemic abuses in Pakistani prisons. End
summary.

PRISON RIOTS PROMPT CALLS FOR REFORM
--------------


2. (U) Following prison riots in Hyderabad, Karachi, Multan,
and Timergara, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan (HRCP), Asma Jahangir, issued a statement October
17 urging the GOP to implement long-term, systemic jail
reform. She called on GOP authorities to humanize the prison
and jail systems and reconsider the suitability of
incarceration for petty crimes. She also called for the
elimination of undue delay in deciding cases, underscored the
need to ensure communication between the accused and their
lawyers, and urged training of prison officials on the
appropriate use of official force.

PRISON OVERCROWDING AND ABUSE
--------------


3. (C) Post contacts in the human rights and NGO communities
echoed Jahangir's concerns and added that the magnitude of
the problems had become alarming and required immediate
action on the part of the GOP. Poloff met on November 4 with
Global Foundation President, Ulfat Kazmi, who pointed to
systemic abuses by authorities and widespread overcrowding in
Pakistani prisons as the two issues posing the greatest
concern. In the short term, GOP a

ttention to these two
problems was paramount, said Kazmi. He also pointed out the
failure of officials to implement the 1997 Pakistan Law
Commission's recommendations for prison reform as a cause of
the ongoing problems within Pakistani prisons and jails.


4. (C) Also on November 4, Poloff met with Chairman Liaqat
Banori, and Director of Operations Qaiser Siddiqui, of the
Society for Human Rights and Prisoners' Aid in Pakistan
(SHARP) to discuss prison conditions and calls for prison
reform. Banori and Siddiqui echoed Kazmi's comments, and
added the specifics of the problem comprise a much greater
human rights problem. Rampant corruption, and a lack of
resources pervade the over-burdened prisons system and cause
widespread problems in themselves, they said. Current
methods of dealing with problems, such as suspending jail
officials, registering cases against prisoners accused of
rioting, and shifting detainees to other jails have failed.
Even discounting problems of mismanagement, the SHARP
directors stressed the desperate need to solve twin problems
of overcrowding and poor prisoner living conditions.


5. (C) Banori and Siddiqui said the country has 72
incarceration facilities (jails and prisons), with a capacity
for 35,000 inmates in the entire country. But the facilities
are currently housing more than 88,000 inmates. Nationwide,
regulations are written so as not to exceed a ratio of three
prisoners to every one guard; in some jails, however, the
ratio is ten to one, or greater, according to Banori and
Siddiqui.

LACK OF ACCESS TO COURTS
--------------


6. (C) In many cases, Banori and Siddiqui told Poloff,
prison officials refused to take inmates to their court
dates. While it is true this is sometimes done out of malice
or retribution, according to the two, it is far more often
done simply because there is inadequate guard personnel to
ensure security at the facility and while transporting

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inmates to and from their court appearances. In still other
cases, prison vehicles designed to carry inmates to their
court appearances are too small to accommodate all inmates,
so many are left behind.


7. (C) Exacerbating this situation, according to Banori and
Siddiqui, prison officials do not follow up with the inmates
not transported to court or their attorneys; inmates,
therefore, are left without an appearance in court, without
recourse to reschedule their court dates, and without
consultation with their representatives about their case.

EXCESSIVE PUNISHMENT
--------------


8. (C) Given the dramatic imbalance between inmates and
guards, according to Banori and Siddiqui, reported torture
and excessive punishments are commonplace means for prison
authorities to maintain order and discipline within prisons.


9. (C) The October jail riots led NGOs to call for training
on the appropriate use of force. Asma Jahangir of the HRCP
reported that the Karachi Malir district jail surgeon alleged
prison guards had shot prisoners in the head and chest during
the October 15 rioting there. To reduce overcrowding she
encouraged authorities to consider punishments other than
incarceration, especially for misdemeanor crimes. Banori and
Siddiqui suggested a rebuttable presumption in favor of bail
in cases where the penalty is less than three years.

NGOs: SYSTEMIC STUDY AS A BASIS FOR REFORM
--------------


10. (C) Banori and Siddiqui told Poloff they are considering
partnering with other governments and NGOs to conduct a study
of all 72 Pakistani incarceration facilities, over the
previous ten years, to examine data regarding arrests,
charges, length of pre-trial and post-conviction detention,
and the ultimate resolution of cases. With this study, the
first of its kind in the history of Pakistan's penal system,
they believe they can develop a better understanding of
systemic needs over the short, medium and longer terms, and
the possibilities for reform. They say there is support for
such a comprehensive study within the Pakistani Ministry for
Law, Justice, and Human Rights, and the Interior Ministry.
Binori and Siddiqui said they would welcome USG support in
such an effort.


11. (C) All of the NGO leaders noted that many of the
country's top leaders have spent periods in incarceration.
This was a sure indication of their awareness of the problems
in the prison system. PM Gilani, for example, was arrested
in 2001 on charges of official corruption under the Musharraf
regime and spent more than five years in jail.

PM GILANI: REFORMS SHOULD IMPROVE PRISONERS' CONDITIONS
-------------- --------------


12. (C) Gilani has reiterated the GOP sees prison and jail
reform as an important and immediate goal and identified
over-crowding is a major issue in Pakistan's prisons. He has
ordered the administrative prisons manual (parts of which
date to 1894) to be updated, has stressed the need to raise
the level of professionalism of prison guards, and urged
expansion of vocational training opportunities for inmates.


13. (C) Gilani has proposed abolishing the death penalty,
but capital punishment is widely accepted under Islam and is
popular here. On other offenses, many believe Pakistani
society is moving away from a western judicial code of
punishment and looking for a balance between it and Islamic
law. Islamic law is seen by many as delivering swift justice
that the slow, corrupt, civil courts do not. Many within the
GOP and Pakistan's legal community do not feel parole works.
One Post contact stated, "parole as it is practiced in the
U.S. is an impossibility in Pakistan," because there can be
no real trust in the prisoner.


14. (SBU) Gilani has stated 80 percent of inmates currently
incarcerated are awaiting a trial date and, in an immediate
effort to ease overcrowding, he has ordered an investigation
into speeding the trial process and investigating
opportunities for bail. Post contacts have told Poloff the
GOP plans to double the budget for prisons, and plans are

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underway to introduce a system of mandatory bail for all
bailable offenses. Whether there is funding to implement
these changes remains to be seen. Gilani has applauded the
recent efforts of prison authorities in the Northwest
Frontier Province where petty offenders are released without
trial if their time served in incarceration has exceeded the
statutory penalty for their accused crime. In this vein,
Gilani has also lamented the effect of the one year plus
judges' strike and its dramatically negative contribution to
the criminal case backlog.


15. (SBU) The PM has supported improvements in the amount
and type of food given to prisoners, some of whom depend on
their families to avoid starvation. Gilani has ordered
official investigations into the construction of water
filtration and treatment plants at prisons to provide clean
water and suggested investigating the previously taboo topic
of giving female prisons access to reproductive health care.
One small product of Gilani's reform efforts thus far was the
September 2008 change in the administrative rule offering
prisoners reductions in their sentences for taking religious
studies which focused entirely and exclusively on Islam. The
change in the 1978 rule now allows studies of all faiths to
count toward sentence reduction.


16. (C) Comment: Publicly, NGOs welcome the new
government's support for prison reform initiatives.
Privately, many are skeptical of how much change can be made
given the scope of the problems and limited resources to fix
them. In addition to considering support for the SHARP
study, the Department should consider funding a prison census
in Pakistan. A census would improve transparency, provide
the basis for reform, and potentially expose the remaining
number of "disappeared" persons in prison without charge.
PATTERSON