Prisoner Rights.

Human Rights Watch has issued a damning report about the state of Pakistani prisons. An issue that has often been highlighted as a major source of other problems has been overcrowding, and the scathing HRW report also identifies this as a cause for the inhumane conditions in Pakistani prisons.

In this report, the overcrowding and the results it has on health and the provision of medical facilities have been explored at length. The report indicates that the sheer number of prisoners-exceeding international standard limitations for incarcerated convicts in the same area size-leads to a rise in communicable diseases and puts other inmates at risk of an outbreak.

Added to this is the very problematic lack of access to healthcare facilities. This is an issue for both inmates that have chronic problems that need to be treated according to a schedule, and any serious illnesses or ailments suffered while in prison. In both these cases, the patient is at a much greater risk of their condition...