Overview Of The Legal Aid Office
The Legal Aid Office is a privately managed, government funded, non-profit organization. Our work began as the Committee for the Welfare of Women Prisoners Sindh (CWWP) in 2004, which was set up by the Home Department to provide legal assistance to women and juvenile prisoners under trial. Simultaneously, a ‘Women Prisoners Welfare Society’ (WPWS) was also registered in 2005 to ensure the welfare of prisoners and to help provide extra funds for the initial establishment of the Legal Aid Office.
In 2011, the Committee was renamed as the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners (CWP) to expand the mandate to free legal assistance and representation to all inmates, including adult males across Sindh. The CWP-LAO is headed by Justice(R) Nasir Aslam Zahid, former Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Advocate General and Special Secretary Prisons are Committee members. The Committee operates under the umbrella of the provincial government.
Our work within the criminal justice system of Sindh is four-fold:
Free Legal Aid, Advice, and Assistance to Prisoners
As of 2019, our services extend to 25 prisons in Sindh where we provide free legal aid and representation in courts to juveniles and adult male and female prisoners. While most of our cases are litigated in district court, our lawyers also provide legal representation in appellate courts. From 2004 until September 2018, CWP-LAO has resolved 15,670 cases throughout the province.
Legal Awareness and Legal Empowerment
We have established the first self-sustaining Paralegal Program in Pakistan, which is being conducted in the Women and Central Prison in Karachi, and the Central Prison in Hyderabad and Sukkur. Our lawyers train convicts in a wide range of legal topics, including the Constitution, criminal law and procedure, and prison rules. Convicts then continue to lead this training and disseminate information to other prisoners, and this helps prisoners understand legal procedures relevant to their cases and the rules that govern their conduct in prison. As of 2019, we have trained 78 paralegals who have trained a further 1,310 prisoners.
Welfare Activities for Prisoners
We run an Early Learning Centre and children’s play rooms in the Women’s prisons in Karachi and Hyderabad to improve the experiences of children incarcerated with their mothers. This includes providing pre-primary education to children between the ages of 2-9 and meeting with their mothers to discuss their learning progress, behavioural and social development. We also provide football training camps for juveniles in YOIS Karachi, mental health services and sewing classes to the Women Prison in Karachi.
Policy and Advocacy on Prison Laws, Rules, and Regulations
CWP-LAO conducts annual prison condition surveys to create a baseline that allows future policy, administrative, and legal reform. We have periodically conduct surveys in our prisons on a variety of topics, including prisoners’ situational and legal awareness, and determining rehabilitative needs, to name a few. In addition, we continually assess and analyse the existing legal framework dealing with prisoners, and are currently working with the government to amend the Prison Rules.