Prisons In Pakistan

Prisons in Pakistan and their administration, is a Provincial competency under the Constitution of Pakistan. Pakistan has the 23rd largest prison population in the world and the 5th largest death row population. Around 64.5% of prisoners are awaiting trial prisoners. 98.6% of prisoners are male, 1.7% are juveniles and 1.2% of those held are foreign citizens. With a total inmate population of 102,026 distributed across 128 correctional facilities spanning the four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the country's prison system grapples with severe operational pressures, further exacerbated by the fact that over three-quarters of the prison population, 74,918 individuals, remain under trial.

Types of prisons

The most common and standard jail institutions are Central Jails, District Jails and Sub Jails. The other types of jail establishments are Women Jails, Borstal Schools, and Special Jails.

Rehabilitation and diversion programs remain largely neglected, with no community service as an alternative sentence. Vulnerable groups, women, juveniles, and individuals with psychosocial disabilities, lack adequate protections. Meaningful reform demands the urgent enforcement of revised Prison Rules and alignment with global standards, including the Mandela, Bangkok, and Beijing Rules, to foster a just and humane penal system.

List of Prisons

Pakistan's 128 prisons, designed for 65,811 inmates, remain severely overcrowded despite infrastructural expansions. Resource constraints and a punitive reliance on detention continue to define the system.

Pakistan has four dedicated women's prisons—three in Sindh (Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur) and one in Punjab (Multan), while most female inmates are housed in separate barracks within male prisons. Juvenile offenders are accommodated in five facilities, including ''Youth Offenders Industrial School'' and '' Borstal Institutes'', with two in Punjab (Faisalabad, Bahawalpur) and three in Sindh (Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur).

Islamabad

* Islamabad Jail Complex, under construction

Balochistan

Prisons Department of Balochistan has following Jails:

Gilgit Baltistan

Prisons in Gilgit Baltistan are under jurisdiction of Home and Prison Department.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Prisons in Azad Jammu and Kashmir are under jurisdiction of AJK Prison Department.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Khyber Pakhtukhwa Prisons inspectorate is an attached department of Home and Tribal Affairs Department. The Inspectorate of Prisons supervises the operation and management of 22 prisons and 5 internment centers.

Punjab

Sindh

Karachi Region
# Central Prison Karachi
# District Prison Malir Karachi
# Central Prison for Women Karachi

Hyderabad Region
# Central Prison Hyderabad
# Special Prison Nara Hyderabad
# District Prison Badin
# District Prison Mirpurkhas
# District Prison Shaheed Benazirabad
# District Prison Sanghar
# District Prison Dadu
# Open Prison Badin

Sukkur Region
# Central Prison Sukkur
# Central Prison Larkana
# Central Prison Khairpur
# District Prison Sukkur
# District Prison Shikarpur
# District Prison Naushahroferoze
# District Prison Ghotki
# District Prison Jacobabad
# Special Prison for Women Larkana

Training

Federal

The National Academy for Prisons Administration is the Federal Government's department for setting the standards of prison staff and is in charge of the training for all the prison staff in every provinces of Pakistan. It operates under Ministry of Interior. The academy is based in Lahore.

Sindh

Government of Sindh runs a training institute at Sindh Prisons Staff Training Institute Nara Hyderabad.

Punjab

Government of Punjab runs Punjab Prisons Staff Training Institute in Lahore.

See also

Prison officers ranks:
* Inspector General of Prisons
* Deputy Inspector General of Prisons
* Assistant Inspector General of Prisons
* Superintendent of Jail

Related:
*Crime in Pakistan
*Law enforcement in Pakistan

List:
* List of prisons in Pakistan

References

{{Prisons in Pakistan