Situation of Prisons in India and Pakistan: Shared Legacy, Same Challenges

After the partition of British India (1947), both the countries-India and Pakistan inherited the similar prison system from the British as a colonial legacy. That system was designed and constructed to suppress the political opponent as the jails served as means to detain freedom fighters and regime defiant more than criminals. This paper delineates the prison reforms introduced and various commissions constituted by India and Pakistan keeping in view paradigmatic changes in the objectives and functions of prisons throughout the world. Both the countries introduced administrative, legislative and reformative measures to address the major problems facing the prisoners and prisons. Nevertheless, a substantive gap remained between policy decisions and implementation level. Prisons have turned into place of illegalities and fertile breeding places for offenders. This situation needs improvement in accordance with reforms introduced by the both countries and International Conventions/Regulations on Prisoners’ Human Rights charted by United Nations.