Hundreds of children living behind bars alongside incarcerated mothers in Pakistan: Report

Islamabad, Oct 27 (IANS) The cruelty of Pakistan's justice system is demonstrated through hundreds of children sleeping behind bars not for crime but because their mothers have nowhere else to go. At least 140 children under the age of six are growing up behind bars alongside their incarcerated mothers in the province of Punjab alone, a report has revealed.

"In the cold architecture of Pakistan’s prisons, innocence exists in the most unnatural of places: steel cages, overcrowded cells, and the stale air of confinement. Here, childhood unfolds in captivity.In Punjab alone, at least 140 children under the age of six are growing up in prisons alongside their incarcerated mothers. The statistics are clinical — 67 boys and 73 girls spread across 45 prisons — but the human reality behind those numbers is devastating. These are children whose earliest memories are not of playgrounds or storybooks, but of locked gates and the clang of iron doors," detailed a report in Islam Khabar.

The worst affected, the report mentions, are those behind bars in Adiala Jail and Multan Women’s Jail, both of which house the largest numbers of children. These children are not inmates by law yet they inherit confinement as they are born to women serving sentences. The emotional cost of growing up in such a condition is immeasurable. A child who spends his or her early years in prison grows with a warped understanding of safety, freedom, and authority.

"Their lives are a cruel byproduct of a justice system that prioritises procedural compliance over moral responsibility. Authorities argue that the law permits infants to stay with their mothers until the age of five — a clause meant to preserve maternal bonds. But behind the bureaucratic language of 'legal provisions' lies a grim truth: legality is not humanity. The law allows their presence, but it does not protect their childhood. When these children reach the age limit, they are removed and handed over to relatives or SOS Villages — a second displacement that further compounds the trauma of separation," the Islam Khabar report mentions.

According to the report, majority of prisons in Punjab provide basic amenities like thin mattresses, limited food, and minimal healthcare and meals typically consist of lentils and flatbread. These food items do not fulfil the nutritional needs of growing up children. Milk or fruit is a luxury while education, if available, is sporadic. A few prisons have claimed of providing rudimentary schooling. However, teachers visit irregularly and lessons are given to children in cramped rooms which are not suitable for studies.

"The prisons themselves are not built to accommodate infants or toddlers. Sanitation facilities are poor, ventilation is inadequate, and disease spreads easily. The lack of pediatric healthcare exposes these children to preventable illnesses, while the absence of emotional stimulation stunts their cognitive and social development. These are children being shaped by an environment meant for punishment, not protection."

However, officials insist on following “legal obligations”, thus showcasing a bureaucracy more concerned about ticking boxes than facing the moral crisis unfolding within its walls.

"A prison cell can never be a cradle. Yet in Pakistan, it has become one of dozens of innocent lives. These children are growing up in the shadow of punishment they never earned, their laughter muffled by walls meant to suppress. They represent the most voiceless victims of a justice system built on indifference — a system that measures compliance by the letter of the law, not by the depth of its conscience. To be born behind bars is to begin life in captivity. For more than a hundred children across Pakistan, that captivity is not metaphorical. It is their world — one defined by confinement, deprivation, and the slow erosion of what it means to be a child. And as long as this continues, every day that passes behind those walls is another day stolen from the innocence of Pakistan’s forgotten generation," the report stated.

--IANS

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