Release of prisoners

The coronavirus is a disaster for the prisoners. Given notorious overcrowding and woeful unhygienic conditions in our jails, the lives of inmates are at unprecedentedly grave risk. And this is not specific to Pakistan; jails in many other states too face the grim challenge of Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, in many of them the governments have on compassionate grounds released prisoners, some on parole and others as pardon. The one that did it quite early is Iran where as many as 85,000 were released to parole to ease pressure on jail managements. In the United States, quite a few state governments have ordered the release of prisoners. According to the government's jail reforms report presented to Islamabad High Court in January, there are a total of 73,661 prisoners in Pakistan's jails. Out of them, 44,853 are under-trial prisoners. The government should consider setting free under-trial prisoners who are not involved in heinous crimes. Then there are many who have already spent most of their sentences. They, too, deserve attention. Moreover, juveniles and women should be paroled if not let off regardless of the nature of their crimes.