“When Imran Khan was sent to Adiala jail, journalists suddenly remembered that jails have horrible conditions. But what of us, the ordinary prisoner, spending decades unseen, unheard, and uncared for? Write about us too.”

Behind the steel bars of Gujranwala jail in the Punjab Province, and the white-washed walls of an 8 by 10 feet cell, Iqbal’s day begins at sunrise. He would sit on the bug-ridden chaadar or blanket placed above the cold hard ground to prevent his back from getting sore. Following the morning routine of breakfast and a cup of cold chai provided by the jail warden, the rest of Iqbal’s day would play out in a cramped cell, shared by 14 other fellow inmates. The hours would pass with little more than reading the newspaper and consuming an adulterated gravy with stale roti. And every day, the unpleasant odor from the cell’s toilet would permeate the room. Iqbal would often find himself immersed in contemplation about his dreams and aspirations, yet, much like him, they too would remain trapped within the four walls of the cell for twenty-two years.

As the global discourse surrounding climate justice and prison reform gains traction, the condition of prisoners grappling with environmental hazards remains an overlooked narrative in Pakistan. The South Asian country is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world with the 2022 floods submerging a third of the country and affecting 33 million people. However, the stories of prisoners throughout this disaster are under-represented. The prison population of Pakistan, around 87, 000 people, is one of the most vulnerable given that it has limited access to advocacy and is challenged in asserting its rights to basic necessities like clean water and medical services.

In 2023, Human Rights Watch put out a report called “A Nightmare for Everyone” on the health crisis faced by prisoners in Pakistan. The report highlighted the lack of access to healthcare and overcrowded conditions in cells, leading to the spread of diseases. It also described how prisons became breeding grounds for “lice, fleas, scabies, and skin diseases,” with prisoners even enduring “infestations of rats and lizards in their cells.” Other hazards within prisons range from extreme temperatures to inadequate access to clean water. 

Amid the contemporary environmental injustice in Pakistan’s prisons, the country’s penal laws from the British colonial legacy still play a role today. The Prisons Act of 1894 was a legislative framework put in place by the British Raj over the Indian subcontinent, which set out laws for prison administration and prisoners’ rights. These laws do not uphold the human rights standards of today. However, since then the country has come up with the Pakistan Prison Rules 1978, a supplementary set of laws to implement the provisions of the 1894 Act. 

According to Inspector General of Punjab Prisons, Qadeer Alam, the 1894 Act places an emphasis on “discipline” rather than rehabilitating the prison population of Pakistan. This suggests that the goal of the act was to ensure order and control within British colonial India. Experts and observers have also pointed to the prison system’s outdated infrastructure and practices, which were created during the British Raj and cannot withhold modern facilities like air coolers to manage temperatures. 

Iqbal’s Story: A Glimpse Behind the Bars

Muhammad Iqbal was only 17 years old when he was arrested and spent 22 years behind bars, falsely accused in a murder case. What stands out in his case and many others is the absence of a formal conviction, as the court finally declared his innocence more than two decades after his initial arrest. 

Within the confines of Mandi Bahauddin District Jail and Gujranwala Central Jail, Iqbal’s recollections offer a glimpse into his daily life. During his incarceration, access to clean drinking water proved to be a significant challenge. “The local water in Mandi Bahaudin is not considered drinkable; it is really contaminated and salty,” he remarked during our phone conversation. However, the luxury of alternative water sources was only accessible to those with financial means. 

“If you possess the financial means, you can arrange for water to be brought in from outside,” he explained. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have that option; hence, I had no choice but to use the same water for both drinking and bathing.” 

Later, during his period of incarceration, his jail was equipped with water filtration systems to tackle the problem of contaminated water. Nevertheless, even with these filters in place, the water temperature would noticeably increase within an hour, rendering it unfit for consumption. Iqbal also talked about  the absence of refrigeration facilities to cool the water, compelling him to drink hot water in the scorching climate.

In ordinary jails, bedding arrangements or mattresses are not provided, a luxury only provided to A/B class prisoners or political prisoners. Inmates are forced to rest on the bare floor with only layers of blankets to cushion their sleep. Iqbal vividly recollects his nights spent under what many inmates call khaarishi qambal or the “itchy blanket,” which was notorious for causing inmates to contract scabies. If one had the privilege to get a clean one from their family, they could, but Iqbal could not. “Offer a common man or a laborer an incentive of 1,000 rupees and invite them to sleep in a blanket from jail. They’ll likely refuse without hesitation. Yet, prisoners have no alternative but to live in those very conditions,” he said. 

Within a single cell, accommodating 12 or more individuals is commonplace, leaving little room for some to even recline. As a result, some are forced to spend the entire night sitting.

For their meals, Iqbal and his fellow inmates were served either vegetable gravy or lentils, although the latter appeared to be more water than actual vegetables. Accompanying the gravy was stale roti, susceptible to fungal contamination if left overnight. The government often bought the last remaining sacks of flour for the prisons, which were frequently rotten, contaminated with stones, and emitted a foul odor.

“When there’s an officer visit or an expected inspection, the prison staff would prepare better-quality food. Reading the jail manual might give you the impression that the food is like that of a restaurant, but in reality, it is nothing like that,” he elaborates.

Prison Heatwaves: A Death Sentence by Another Name

Usama Khawar is a lawyer who was affiliated with Former Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Punjab Prison Reform Committee in 2022. One significant prison issue that was addressed by the committee revolved around maintaining suitable temperatures. Khawar states how summers in Punjab tend to extend longer than winters, subjecting prisoners to temperatures ranging from 48 to 50 degrees Celsius. Khawar’s observations extend beyond Punjab, suggesting that jails in other provinces face similar challenges. Every year with climate change, the country faces a health crisis due to rising temperatures. Although there is limited data on the deaths caused by heatwaves in Pakistan’s prisons each year, there is evidence in the past of prisoners dying of heat strokes in June of 2015, at Landhi Jail, Karachi.

Khawar told the story of one of the jailers who accounted for an aged political prisoner. The political prisoner had diabetes and was condemned to a cell facing the sunlight where the temperature would reach 48 degrees. Khawar further mentions how a superintendent would subject prisoners to the hottest cell if perhaps they were in a bad mood or just wanted to punish someone. “Keeping an inmate in such a facility is like sanctioning a death warrant,” he said.

In a proposal to the Punjab Prison Reform Committee, Khawar said how the members pitched to install electric fans in prisons and require jail authorities to keep the temperature at 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year. However, if the temperature exceeds 45 degrees Celsius, electric fans can make the heat worse. Moreover, since many prisons date back to the 19th century pre-partition era, they are not structured to accommodate modern systems like air conditioners or electric fans. 

Many politicians have also made prison rights their top agenda, after being incarcerated themselves. Aleem Khan, a member of the Provincial Assembly and a member of the reform committee, started a charity to install air coolers in a select few prisons, but these coolers could not function in intense humidity. 

Khawar said that the government should take the matter into its own hands instead of relying on charities to substitute for the state’s work. He said that in 2022 the government released a 5 billion rupee package to tackle the problem of extreme temperatures in prisons, but it is unknown whether or not it has been implemented. While heat is not the only problem, six prisoners died in Camp Jail Lahore due to freezing temperatures in December of 2021, according to a Human Rights Watch report.                                                                                 

Overcrowding: The Breeding Ground for Disease

Overcrowding poses another significant challenge within Pakistan’s prison system, as highlighted by Farah Zia, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Zia points out that the Malir District Jail in Karachi, located in the Sindh Province, was designed to accommodate 1,800 inmates but currently houses approximately 7,200 prisoners. She further asserts that prisons in the Punjab and Sindh provinces are operating at 300 percent overcapacity. “Prisons have become hotbeds for infectious diseases,” she said, with inmates at risk of contracting illnesses such as Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, COVID-19, scabies, and various skin diseases.

During his time in prison, Iqbal complained of the diseases he suffered from. Because of the suffocating and dirty conditions of his prison, he now has a respiratory disease and is now on medication. 

According to Zia, the root cause of this crisis lies in the fact that a substantial number of prisoners are individuals awaiting trial, often detained for minor offenses. Many of them lack the financial means to post bail, and in some cases, courts are hesitant to grant bail to teach the prisoner a lesson.

The slow justice system contributes to prolonged incarceration and leads to overcrowding in Pakistan’s prisons. According to the Justice Project Pakistan, 68 percent of the total prison population in Punjab, a province to which Iqbal belongs, was under trial in the year 2022. 

The diseases are further exacerbated by a lack of medical equipment, such as ultrasound, cardiovascular medical devices, and qualified medics, said Usama Khawar. For severe conditions, prisoners need permission from multiple authorities to be treated in external hospitals. This permission process can be lengthy, taking weeks and sometimes even months. One needs to get permission from the Inspector General of prisons, the Home Department, and then finally the Home Secretary. In this case, high-risk prisoners—such as cancer patients—need to face the already toxic conditions of prisons, such as arsenic-contaminated water and sub-standard food. By the time some can get external treatment, they may already be at advanced stages of cancer.

Gender, Class, and Disability: Overlooked Vulnerabilities

The environmental injustice of prisoners also encompasses the social disparity across class, gender, and disability in terms of access to basic necessities and hygiene. Zia said that the Prison Rules of 1978 do not have any provisions regarding sanitary napkins for women in prison. Although certain charities provide women with pads, these are very selective due to the lack of resources. Hence, women have to resort to unhygienic alternatives such as unclean pieces of cloth. 

Moreover, there is no mental health screening before people are placed in prisons. “Jail is a microcosm of the larger population,” said Zia referring to the lack of importance placed on mental health in the country as a whole. 

Although there is very little data on mentally ill inmates across the country, previous data from the United States by the SUNY Upstate Medical University shows how mentally ill prisoners, such as those with schizophrenia, are much more likely to suffer from heatstrokes in cases of heat waves as their bodies are unable to thermoregulate and can do nothing to change their immediate environment. With already abnormal thermoregulation, heat stress may also lead to secondary complications such as organ failure, sepsis, and tissue destruction. Additionally, according to research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, there is a notable association between heat and the suicidal tendencies of incarcerated individuals as they deal with mental illness. At a biological level extreme heat can disrupt the brain’s function and emotional regulation, leading to increased aggression, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. But more than that where there is no escape from the heat, an overwhelming sense of helplessness can also increase the risk of suicidal thoughts. 

In fact, the broader conditions within prisons further amplify these psychological pressures. A report by the Prison Policy Initiative highlights how the harsh environment of prisons fosters depression and heightens the risk of suicide. Factors such as overcrowding, restricted freedom, solitary confinement, lack of privacy, and inadequate mental health support exacerbate the emotional and physical toll on inmates, creating a cycle of despair.

When asked about the effect of incarceration on his own mental health, Iqbal revealed how it had changed his psyche. “It takes time to adjust to society after leaving jail. It has been three years but the depression and burden of jail has still not left. Society has still not accepted me even though I am innocent. It is a completely different world inside the prison and the outside. If you have money, you can fulfill your dreams, but in jail, even wealth can’t provide freedom to pursue them. How can I even begin to describe how terrible the conditions are inside jail? There are no words.”

Paths Toward Reform: Accountability and Investment

To address environmental injustice in the incarceration system, Khawar emphasized the necessity for political ownership of prisons, asserting that they are too vital to be entrusted solely to prison authorities. He also highlighted the need for external checks and balances due to the excessive authority held by chief wardens, which can lead to unchecked and hidden abuse, torture, and corruption. To combat this mistreatment, Khawar proposed a more comprehensive accountability system. This system would involve monthly, unannounced visits from the legal community and the bar council to ensure transparency and proper treatment of inmates. Lastly, Khawar urged the government to directly invest in prisoners’ needs, including food, clothing, hygiene products, and decent living conditions, rather than outsourcing these responsibilities to charities such as the Edhi Foundation or Saylani. 

Zia also noted that jail authorities often dismiss prisoners’ rights when confronted about their violent conduct, with comments such as ‘You are upholding the rights of rapists and criminals’ being a recurring response.

When addressing the environmental injustice within the prison system of Pakistan, it is important to shed light on the layers of disparities within it. As Iqbal expressed, “When Imran Khan was sent to Adiala jail, journalists suddenly remembered that jails have horrible conditions. But what of us, the ordinary prisoners, spending decades unseen, unheard, and uncared for? Write about us too.”