The rude behaviour and involvement in crime by jail officials of the Adiala Central Jail, has turned the already over-crowded prison into a hell for the inmates, and a gold mine for themselves, said Ulfat Hussain Kazmi, president, Global Foundation, a human rights organisation working on plight of prisoners here on Wednesday.
Talking to journalists at the Foundation office, Kazmi said: "Jail officials, including Jail assistant superintendents Malik Feroz and Tipu Sultan are directly involved in the heinous crimes of kidnapping and seeking bribes".
He said during last year, 10 prisoners have been killed, six injured seriously, while one has escaped from the jail, adding the slain prisoners were: Muhammad Yousuf (January 10, 2003), Afzaal Ahmed (January 22, 2003), Rashid Hussain (April 3, 2003), Jamil Bhatti, (June 16, 2003, Nazar (July 11, 2003), Azhar Mehmood (July 12, 2003), Sultana Begum (July 22, 2003), Inayat (August 28, 2003), Mohammad Asif (October 2003), Gulfaraz (November 27, 2003).
Giving a brief detail of the callous attitude of the jail officials, he said: "On April 1, 2003, the assistant superintendent tried to kidnap an eye witness of a murder case from the court of ADS Judge Rafiuddin.
The assistant superintendent also pressurised and tortured prisoners, including Tariq Khan, Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Azhar, Muhammad Riaz, Niaz Ahmed, Javed and Raja Inayat to accept that they have murdered Mir Afzal, he said.
"A prisoner, Sajjad Anwar, showed his injured body to the civil judge on June 20, saying Assistant Superintendent S. Tipu Sultan demanded Rs 10,000 as bribe from him failing in which he along with Chief Checker Fiaz Ahmed and Numberdar Asif Boota and Hanif tortured him seriously", Kazmi said.
Ulfat Kazmi, who has published various reports on prison situation in Pakistan, said it is height of lawlessness that Golra Police raided Adiala Jail and recovered a stolen TV from a prisoner, Waseem, in January 2003, adding: "It is loudly speaking about the role of jail staff in encouraging crime in the jail."
He said seven Iraqi prisoners namely Wisam, Suhaley, Talib, Hiney, Jamal, Ali and Haider have attempted to suicide against the rude behaviour of the jail staff. They are still in jail after completion of the sentence.
"A juvenile prisoner was tortured brutally and thrown down from the roof top as he denied illicit relations with a male prisoner", Kazmi said.
The Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, is highly over-crowded, about 4,963 prisoners have been lodged in this jail having a capacity of only 1,800 prisoners, while 368 prisoners are waiting for the implementation on the death sentence, the cases of 46 are pending in the high court.
The number of women prisoners in this jail in 166 out of which 25 are languishing along with their babies, 10 are foreigners, 68 women are incarcinated on drug charges while 56 under Hudood, he said, adding that 121 children of different ages are also languishing in the jail.
Kazmi called upon the government to take stock of the worsening situation of the Adiala Jail, and immediate measures should be made to provide better facilities to inmates and change the behaviour of the jail officials.
Otherwise this jail would turn into a den rather a safe haven of the criminals, he said.