CHIEF Justice-designate Tassaduq Jillani renewed the higher judiciary’s resolve to monitor prisons in the country when on Thursday he took suo motu notice of an incident at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. The serving of poisonous food to the inmates was a serious enough occurrence that added to the long list of disturbing stories that continue to emanate from Pakistani prisons. Many of the problems these stories highlight have to do with the overcrowding of jails, but there are issues of general inefficiency that cannot be justified by saying that the jail staff has too many souls to feed and look after. Not least dangerous is the societal trend where violators of the law are viewed as pariahs deserving of hatred and inhuman treatment, in addition to being meted out legal punishment. The hatred they generate towards themselves is also revealed in the manner in which they are dealt with by their watchers, the jail staff.

Rights groups and the judiciary have been calling for prison reforms for a long time. Last month, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry reminded everyone about the constitutional provisions that must be maintained at a certain level where inmates are concerned. In June, he was dismayed by the conditions of prisons after a visit to a Punjab jail and he has been ordering senior bureaucrats in all four provinces to keep a close eye on prisons through frequent visits. The sharp court calls might have had some effect on prison conditions but the issue is too complicated to be resolved through sincere, frequent intervention alone. The demand is for a concerted effort that is followed by reassigning prison staff responsibilities in a manner that the staff is no longer able to conveniently deflect the blame for bad prison conditions.