KARACHI: The children seated on checkered green, purple and pink cushions laid out on a colourful rug inside the wooden playhouse looked totally engrossed in the story of a hippopotamus being read out to them. Nearby in their little enclosure, a pair of tortoise munched on freshly chopped cucumber, a rooster looked through everyone who passed by his cage while the ducks decided to take small strolls inside their enclosure. With the story over, some of the children made a beeline for the swings while the others climbed up the monkey bar. Yet others started playing in the sandbox.

       There was so much to do for these children of women prisoners at the inauguration of the Sensory Garden at the Early Learning Centre for children in the Women Prison at Central Jail organised by the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners (CWP) here on Thursday.

       Besides the farm animals and swings and slides, it had reading corners, a sound wall, a pond and many other things that any little child would love.

       Karachi Administrator and Adviser to the Chief Minister on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab was the chief guest. He said that the prisoners and their children must have a level-playing field, an enabling environment, which needs effective lawmaking.

       Remembering the 1894 Prisons Act, he said that it was made to control people since it was a law based on fear.

       “But laws in the world progressed after that as people moved towards betterment although we were still stuck in old times. But in 2019, I managed to repeal the old law. The new law is not draconian, it is humane. It is based on fundamental laws and human rights,” he said.

       “But despite the good intentions of the government, we still need citizens’ support and expect sense of ownership from them. For instance, when a poor prisoner cannot afford legal assistance, and the government lawyers being prosecutors cannot help, it is the private sector that provides them legal representation.”

       Coming back to the main topic of discussion, he said that there were around 18 young children living in the prison here with their mothers. “They will benefit immensely from the Sensory Garden at the Early Learning Centre. They have done no wrong, they also need equal opportunities to excel and succeed in life,” he said, adding that the education facilities at the Central Women Prison should be replicated in all jails of Sindh as well as other provinces.

       While explaining about CWP, Barrister Haya Emaan Zahid, CEO of Legal Aid Society (LAS), who is also Secretary of CWP, said that the Committee, headed by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, was providing legal assistance to vulnerable and needy prisoners. They provide assistance to almost 2,500 prisoners annually.

       About the need for a Sensory Garden and play area for children at the prison, Barrister Haya said that it was unfortunate that some children were born in prisons and many of them remain with their inmate mothers for up to nine years.

       “Why are these mothers keeping their children with them? There must be some kind of compulsion or helplessness that is forcing them to keep their young children with them behind bars. But the children are innocent. They have committed no crime. And yet they are locked up here. They appear for court hearings with their mothers; they have to go there in prison vans,” she said.

       She also said that the CWP had identified these children as being at high risk and since 2015 it had been working to fill this gap through the Early Learning Education Centres (ELCs) at women prisons of Karachi and Hyderabad.

       For this, she thanked the jail administration and people in the private sector who came forward to join hands with them such as the AMI School. “We are lawyers. We don’t work in the education sector but we have our advisory committee of experts to look to for advice,” she said.

       Speaking on the occasion, Sindh IG Prisons Kazi Nazeer Ahmed said that “the old prison laws were made by British authorities which were deeply punitive in nature and followed a colonial mindset whereas we are living in an independent country and, therefore, the old laws should have been replaced with new ones; complete credit goes to Sindh government which introduced the new law.

       The prison authorities are trying their best to implement the new law and rules. IG Ahmed further stated that “we have also made many improvements through public-private partnership ventures and the Sensory Garden is one of the best example”.

       Nasira Faiz, focal person of AMI School, said that the children incarcerated with their mothers were suffering a lot with different problems and there were scant opportunities for them as compared to the children living outside.

       “The AMI School with support of different donors has tried to create a platform where these children can feel the sense of life outside and learn the importance of different general ethics in a friendly environment,” she said.

       Rabeea Minai of Education Works (Pvt) Ltd, the management of AMI, said that jail no longer seemed like a scary place. “We have created this Early Learning Centre and Sensory Garden for our children’s better tomorrow,” she said.

       Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2021