[This video is supported by #CFLI]
December 9, 2025
By Iqra Manzoor
LAHORE
“I never cried in front of anyone. I cried alone… All I wanted was to get out and go back to my parents,” says K*, recalling her years spent behind bars. Her voice carries the weight of four years of confinement, isolation, and struggle—years that have left lasting scars on her mind and spirit.
K was imprisoned in June 2020, after being accused of blasphemy, a crime she maintains she did not commit. She remained in prison till the next four years and the impact this time had on her mental health changed her life forever. K’s story sheds light not only on her personal trauma but also on the broader realities faced by women in Punjab’s prisons.
Life behind bars
When asked about her daily routine in jail, K described it as a mixture of survival, routine, and occasional moments of normalcy.
“Life in jail was full of fights and hardships. I missed my family, and most of all, I longed to be with my parents.”
She explained how money affected the ability to access even basic necessities:
“I did not have money and was not able to get anything for myself in jail. If we couldn’t sleep, the jail staff used to give us medicine so we could sleep.”
When asked if she faced mistreatment, K spoke of both the bullying from other inmates and the small ways she stood up for herself.
“Some of them were nice to me, some weren’t,’ she says simply. “I had beaten one of them because she was not letting me pray. I threw a bottle on her.” living in prison has upset her mentally and she cannot talk with a flow nor does she form full thoughts.
She also shared her experience with police coercion regarding religious items.
“I had worn some holy threads, which I had collected from Data Darbar and some from the Church, and I did not want to remove them. But they forced me to take them off.”
Regarding menstrual health, she confirmed that sanitary products were provided to female inmates.
Mental and emotional toll
K reflected on the emotional impact of imprisonment and how she coped in solitude:
“I never cried in front of anyone. I cried alone… I had run out of hope.” She longed for her family and freedom. “I just wanted to get out and go back to my parents.”
Life after jail
When asked about societal acceptance after her release, K. described ongoing stigma:
“I do not go anywhere, my mother told me not to go…”
K gave a message to everyone after enduring four long years of imprisonment, during which she also faced severe mental and emotional challenges. She urged caution and empathy:
“Before you accuse someone, look at the person next to you and see if they’ve done it or not. It’s very bad to accuse someone.”
K was proven innocent by the court and released in April 2024—but her story is not an isolated one.
Her story reflects a broader reality
According to Punjab prison records, 1,232 women are currently incarcerated across 45 jails, most of them undertrial and still awaiting conviction. Rawalpindi’s Central Jail holds the highest number of female prisoners (256), followed by Lahore (230), Women Jail Multan (74), and Faisalabad District Jail (77). In contrast, districts like Mianwali and Layyah house only a single female inmate, while Bhakkar, Lodhran, Narowal, and Rajanpur hold fewer than ten.
The numbers highlight a system stretched unevenly across the province—one marked by overcrowding, limited mental-health care, and unsafe living conditions for women. Alongside these women, at least 140 children under the age of six are also growing up behind bars—not because of wrongdoing, but because their mothers have no choice but to raise them inside prison walls.
Punjab’s prisons also confine a significant number of individuals accused under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, with 834 people currently incarcerated under Sections 295-A, 295-B, and 295-C. The majority are undertrial prisoners, including 759 adults (741 men and 18 women) and one juvenile boy. There are 52 convicted adult men, and no convicted women or juveniles. In the category of unconfirmed condemned prisoners, there are 17 adult men and one adult woman, while four adult men are listed as condemned prisoners. In total, Punjab’s jails currently hold 815 adult men, 19 adult women, and one juvenile male facing blasphemy accusations or sentences.Steps towards reform
Prison authorities claim that conditions are steadily improving. In an official Punjab Prisons video, inmate Zara Mehek—jailed for three years with her two-year-old son—said her child now receives education, activities, and access to a small playground. IG Prisons Mian Farooq Nazeer maintains that such children receive healthcare, food, and education “as per law.” DIG Prisons Headquarters Mian Salik Jalal added that children may legally stay with their mothers only until the age of five, after which they are handed to relatives or SOS Villages. Punjab Home Secretary Dr. Ahmad Javed Qazi acknowledged the psychological toll of imprisonment on infants but said the law requires them to stay with their mothers until five.
Officials also highlight new mental-health reforms as a sign of progress. Punjab has appointed 37 psychologists across its 45 prisons, which IG Nazeer says has reduced suicides from 10–15 per year to just one or two. AIG Dr. Qadeer Alam explained that inmates often enter prison overwhelmed by guilt, family collapse, and legal pressures, quickly spiraling into anxiety and depression—making psychological support essential.
Following the Supreme Court’s Safia Bano judgment, all mentally ill prisoners must now be examined by medical boards, including psychiatrists, and transferred to psychiatric facilities when needed. Currently, 59 prisoners are receiving treatment at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health.
Authorities describe these steps as the beginning of a more rehabilitative prison system—though rights activists argue that the reality on the ground still falls far short of these claims.