Prison Paralegal Program - Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners

The Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners (CWP) launched its pioneering Prison Paralegal Program in 2017 under Prison Rules [R.865 (d), (h)] at the Central Prison and Women’s Prison, Karachi. The program has since expanded to the Central Prisons of Hyderabad and Sukkur, becoming Pakistan’s first convict-led paralegal initiative inside prisons.

The program aims to establish a sustainable system of legal awareness and empowerment within prisons by training selected inmates as paralegals, who then educate fellow prisoners on their rights, duties, and prison procedures. This peer-led model ensures continuity and long-term impact, even beyond formal training sessions.

Paralegals, though not qualified lawyers, receive structured training on constitutional rights, criminal law, trial procedures, probation and parole systems, juvenile justice, gender sensitization, and the Sindh Prisons and Correctional Facilities Rules 2019. All new inmates attend legal awareness sessions twice a week, helping them better understand the criminal justice system and their own rights within it.

Since its inception, 251 inmates have been trained as paralegals, who have collectively provided legal awareness to 6,454 prisoners across Sindh. Their commitment has not only strengthened prison reform from within but has also been recognized through official remissions—including Liaquat Ali (170 days), Munawar Ali (15 days), Farhan Ali (320 days), and Shoaib Anwar (522 days) acknowledging their valuable contribution to prisoner rehabilitation and education.

This program reflects CWP’s ongoing mission to promote justice, dignity, and reintegration through knowledge, empowerment, and peer-led transformation within the prison system.