Authored By: Fahmida Hoque
BRAC University
Introduction
South Asian prison codes are still based on nineteenth-century colonial rules, focused primarily on punishment and confinement rather than reformation and rehabilitation. Can such a system truly secure human rights?
South Asian prisons have long been at the centre of a humanitarian crisis, driven principally by extreme overcrowding. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are operating at between 150% and 300% of their intended capacity.1 Overwhelmed by a massive number of undertrial detainees — individuals who have not yet been convicted of any crime — prisons have created severe problems for inmate health, safety, and fundamental human rights. These unconvicted persons live in the same inhumane conditions as convicted prisoners, without any determination of guilt having been made. Life-threatening conditions, including deteriorating sanitation, malnutrition, custodial violence, and the spread of contagious diseases, define the current state of prisons across the region. Vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, face even harsher treatment.
Although international legal frameworks — including the Nelson Mandela Rules and various human rights conventions — clearly establish humane standards for the treatment of prisoners, a significant gap persists between those legal standards and actual practice.
This article examines whether prison conditions in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, comply with international human rights standards. It argues that systemic problems such as overcrowding, outdated legislation, and inhumane management produce serious human rights violations rather than rehabilitation. The analysis draws on books, reports, legal materials, newspaper articles, and other secondary sources.
Struggles of Prisoners Across South Asia
In Bangladesh, by 2025, the inmate population had reached nearly 79,000, despite prisons being built to accommodate approximately 43,000 people — an occupancy rate exceeding 200%. Of the country’s 80 jails, 16 are not operational. In the remaining 64 facilities, nearly 70% of occupants are awaiting trial. Legal experts have argued that an extremely low bail rate makes it structurally impossible to reduce overcrowding.2
Sri Lanka reports a capacity exceedance of 232%. Although the government attempted to increase prison space by approximately 12.5% in late 2020, the rate of arrests grew even faster, resulting in a critical shortage of space and sanitation facilities. Female inmates at facilities such as Negombo and Vavuniya are confined in extremely cramped wards.3
Pakistan and India face similar challenges. Pakistan’s prisons average approximately 152% of capacity, with some individual jails reaching 300% of their limit.4 India faces this crisis most acutely in urban centres such as New Delhi, and, as in Bangladesh, around 70% of India’s inmates are pre-trial detainees.5 Across all these nations, the common thread is a slow and overburdened judicial system that keeps vast numbers of unconvicted people in detention, creating severe overcrowding that functions as a breeding ground for disease.6
Both individual cells and shared wards are overcrowded and poorly maintained. Prisoners frequently lack access to sufficient water and may be unable to bathe for weeks. Women prisoners face particularly severe conditions: many lack access to basic sanitary products such as pads, soap, or clean water, leading to health problems including urinary tract infections and skin diseases. Approximately 80% of menstruating women in detention reportedly lack proper menstrual hygiene facilities.7 In some facilities, male and female prisoners are not separated, which encourages internal crimes including physical and sexual abuse.
Prisoners are provided with very low-grade food that lacks adequate nutrition. As a result, many inmates suffer from malnutrition that falls below the standard necessary to maintain good health.
Unhygienic living conditions and the absence of proper medical care are principal causes of preventable death in custody. In one recorded six-month period, 41 people reportedly died in jail custody, 40 of them from illness. Cases have also been documented in which prisoners became ill during police custody but did not receive timely treatment. In one instance, a detainee who fell ill during remand was transferred to jail and died within a few days. These incidents expose serious and systemic gaps in medical care within prisons.8
Prisoners are frequently subjected to bribery and mistreatment by prison authorities. Corruption pervades recruitment and staff training, and officers are often not trained to act in a reform-oriented manner. Unlike prison systems in many developed nations — where officials are tasked with educating and rehabilitating inmates — the jail system across much of South Asia focuses on punishment and coercion. Welfare measures and rehabilitation programmes are largely absent. There are no trained social workers or psychologists in most prisons to support prisoners’ mental health or social reintegration needs.
Custodial violence is one of the most serious and persistent problems. Physical abuse by prison staff is widely reported. In Sri Lanka, new prisoners have reportedly been subjected to beatings on arrival, with severe beatings using sticks, forced kneeling, and suspension by the wrists also documented. Verbal abuse, humiliation, and degrading tasks — such as being forced to massage officers’ feet or polish their shoes — have also been reported in Sri Lanka.9 In India and Bangladesh, torture methods include severe beatings and electric shocks used to extract confessions. All such treatment is extrajudicial and violates both constitutional and international human rights law. India recorded more than 2,100 custodial deaths in 2024 alone.10
Punishment within prisons is disproportionate and inconsistent with international standards. Solitary confinement is used both as a court-ordered sanction and as a method to coerce confessions. Although international standards strongly discourage solitary confinement exceeding 15 days,11 domestic laws in many South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, permit even longer periods. Women inmates have reported sexual assault during solitary confinement. Minors are sometimes held alongside adult inmates, increasing their risk of abuse.12 A culture of impunity persists: authorities are rarely held accountable for misconduct, which normalises violence and mistreatment. Complaints mechanisms function poorly, as prisoners fear retaliation if they report abuse.
Judicial Precedents
These conditions have not gone entirely unaddressed in the courts. Judicial decisions across the region have begun to assert prisoners’ rights under both domestic constitutions and international standards.
In Bangladesh in 2023, a writ petition concerning the shortage of doctors in prisons was heard by the High Court. The court ruled that prisoners have a constitutional right to healthcare and ordered the government to urgently fill vacant medical positions in prisons so that medical services would be available twenty-four hours a day. In June 2023, Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury ordered that all remaining vacant doctor posts be filled within one month. The appointment of 125 doctors had been reported, but 16 positions across 68 prisons remained vacant, indicating that progress had been slow.13 The judges expressed strong dissatisfaction with the delay in implementing orders and emphasised that state power must serve the welfare of the people, not exploit them. The court noted that prisoners are predominantly poor and entirely dependent on governmental services for healthcare, and that they must accordingly receive proper medical care at all times. This ruling was aimed at closing the implementation gap and accelerating progress toward humane living conditions for prisoners.
In Pakistan, an important case — Khadim Hussain v Federation of Pakistan PLD 2020 Islamabad 268 — was decided by the Islamabad High Court, focusing on poor prison conditions and the violation of prisoners’ fundamental rights. The petitioner, Khadim Hussain, a prisoner in Central Jail Adiala, Rawalpindi, suffered serious and permanent damage to his eyesight due to the absence of proper medical treatment in custody.14
The Islamabad High Court held that the Constitution of Pakistan requires the state to protect the life and dignity of all persons, including prisoners. Imprisonment does not extinguish a person’s fundamental rights. Denying proper medical care to prisoners constitutes a violation of the right to life and may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The court found that prison authorities and the government had failed to discharge their constitutional duties, and emphasised the need to review and update outdated prison laws to bring them into conformity with international standards, including the Nelson Mandela Rules. The court’s reasoning was grounded in both legal and humanitarian principles, with specific reference to Article 9 (right to life) and Article 14 (dignity of man) of the Constitution of Pakistan.15
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has similarly addressed the treatment of prisoners, including habitual offenders, in custody. Cases brought under Articles 11 and 12 of the Sri Lanka Constitution16 have sought to protect inmates from torture and to uphold the principle of equality before the law. The court has affirmed that securing human dignity and ensuring the rule of law is a state duty owed to all persons, including those accused or convicted of crimes. Significantly, the court expanded the definition of torture to include not only physical violence but also psychological harm and neglect — such as prolonged isolation and denial of fundamental needs — which may constitute inhumane or degrading treatment.17 This broader interpretation ensures that even the most serious offenders retain the protection of their fundamental human rights.
Legal Frameworks and Analysis
International conventions establish a minimum standard for the treatment of prisoners. The UN Convention against Torture prohibits direct torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, criminalising conduct such as the denial of medical care or forcing prisoners to live in severely unsanitary conditions.18 Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), prisoners retain the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.19 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) reinforces these protections: Article 7 prohibits torture and degrading treatment, while Article 10 requires that all prisoners be treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity.20 Overcrowded cells, poor hygiene, and inadequate facilities constitute violations of these provisions. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is violated when minors are held in adult prisons or exposed to unsafe and unhealthy conditions.21 The right to adequate food — including nutritious, well-prepared meals and safe drinking water — is also recognised under international human rights law and is of particular importance for detained persons.22
The Nelson Mandela Rules require that prisoners be treated with dignity at all times, and establish access to clean water, proper sanitation, hygienic living conditions, and healthcare equivalent to that of the general community as baseline entitlements.23 In practice, however, South Asian prisons routinely confine inmates in cells without toilet access overnight. Many prison facilities occupy colonial-era buildings from the nineteenth century, with no meaningful improvements made to clogged drains, leaking roofs, or non-functional water pumps, all of which constitute clear violations of these standards.24 Outbreaks of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) in India and high rates of tuberculosis and skin disease attributable to overcrowding confirm that these standards are not being upheld.25
The prohibition of torture and cruel treatment is also a norm of customary international law, binding on all states regardless of treaty ratification. It constitutes a jus cogens norm — a peremptory principle of international law from which no derogation is permitted. Under the doctrine of state responsibility, governments bear legal liability for harm caused to detainees. The duty to treat all prisoners humanely cannot be avoided by invoking resource constraints or overcrowding as justifications.
These violations are not only breaches of international standards; they also contravene constitutional rights in several South Asian countries. In Bangladesh, Article 32 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, which has been interpreted to encompass the right to the highest attainable standard of healthcare.26 When prisoners die from preventable diseases attributable to poor governmental management, the state bears constitutional responsibility. Article 35 of the Constitution further protects individuals from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment, and these protections apply equally to prisoners.27
In India, Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, and the Supreme Court has interpreted this to include the right to health.28 When state authorities fail to discharge their duties, a violation of both international and constitutional standards occurs. In Pakistan and Sri Lanka, prison legislation continues to follow outdated colonial-era laws such as the Prisons Act 1894. While this Act addresses the need to protect inmates’ life and health in general terms, it falls far short of current international human rights requirements and stands in urgent need of comprehensive reform.
Recidivism and the Consequences of Neglect
Recidivism is directly and demonstrably connected to the harsh treatment of inmates. Prisons that are overcrowded and lack rehabilitative programmes cannot provide the conditions necessary for genuine reform. When inmates are denied safe water, proper nutrition, or healthcare, it creates sustained trauma. Existence in inhumane and unhygienic surroundings forces inmates into a state of constant survival, making them more aggressive and volatile.29 Pushed to the point of psychological breakdown, they frequently harbour deep hostility. As a result, they often return to their communities in a more dangerous condition and are more prone to reoffending. It is the environment of detention that produces habitual offenders.
Current data reflects this directly: in Pakistan, approximately 79% of prisoners are habitual offenders.30 Bangladesh faces a similarly alarming pattern, with a recidivism rate as high as 52% and approximately 42% of released prisoners re-arrested within three years.31 By contrast, Sri Lanka has achieved a 50% reduction in reoffending through the use of community-based corrections, demonstrating that reformative and rehabilitative prison environments can produce measurably better outcomes.32
Conclusion
International law is unequivocal: prisoners must be treated with dignity, humanity, and due care. The reality in South Asian prisons, however, reveals a profound and persistent gap between legal standards and practice. Overcrowding, custodial violence, medical neglect, and the absence of rehabilitative programming constitute systematic violations of both international human rights law and the constitutional guarantees of the states concerned. Without meaningful implementation and genuine accountability, these violations will continue to harm prisoners and society alike.
Courts in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have begun to assert the rights of prisoners and call governments to account — but judicial orders alone are insufficient where political will is lacking. Outdated colonial-era legislation must be comprehensively reformed to align with current international human rights standards. Oversight mechanisms for prison officials must be strengthened, and rehabilitative programmes — including healthcare, psychological support, and vocational training — must be resourced and implemented. Sri Lanka’s experience with community-based corrections demonstrates that reform is not merely desirable but achievable. Until South Asian governments treat prison reform as both a legal obligation and a public safety imperative, recidivism rates will remain high and the cycle of harm will persist.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Table of Cases
Khadim Hussain v Federation of Pakistan PLD [2020] Islamabad 268
Table of Legislation
Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1978
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973
Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Constitution of India
International Treaties and UN Documents
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (adopted 10 December 1984, entered into force 26 June 1987) 1465 UNTS 85
Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976) 993 UNTS 3
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art 11) (12 May 1999) UN Doc E/C.12/1999/5
UNGA, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (8 January 2016) UN Doc A/RES/70/175
Secondary Sources
Articles and Journals
‘Health in Indian Prisons: A Study on Disease Burden and Sanitation’ (2023) 15 The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia
Shawon AA, ‘Overcrowded Jails Raise Alarm over Health, Human Rights’ Dhaka Tribune (Dhaka, 12 October 2025) https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/393725/overcrowded-jails-raise-alarm-over-health-human
Yesmen N, ‘The State of Prison in Bangladesh: Disparities Between Law and Practices’ (2022) 6(1) Science, Technology & Public Policy 23
Reports and Other Sources
Amnesty International, Sri Lanka: Torture in Custody (June 1999) https://www.amnesty.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa370101999en.pdf
CEDA Ashoka, ‘The Burgeoning Share of Under-Trial Prisoners in India’s Jails’ (27 September 2022) https://ceda.ashoka.edu.in/the-burgeoning-share-of-under-trial-prisoners-in-indias-jails
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Boondh, Menstrual Hygiene Management in Prisons (2023)
Department of Community Based Corrections, Reducing Reoffending through Rehabilitation and Reintegration (UNODC) https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/ReducingReoffending/MS/Sri_Lanka_-_Reducing_reoffending_through_rehabilitation_and_reintegration.pdf
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Prison Study (25 November 2020) https://www.hrcsl.lk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Prison-Study-by-HRCSL_Concise-Version.pdf
Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, ‘World Prison Brief: Bangladesh’ https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/bangladesh
National Commission for Human Rights Pakistan, Prison Data Report 2024 (January 2025) https://nchr.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/prison-data-report-2025
Penal Reform International, A Review of Laws and Policies to Prevent and Remedy Violence Against Children in Bangladesh (June 2013) https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BANGLADESH-A-review-of-law-and-policy-to-prevent-and-address-violence-against-children_English.pdf
Penal Reform International, Global Prison Trends 2022 (May 2022) https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/GPT2022.pdf
Penal Reform International, Global Prison Trends 2024 (May 2024) https://www.penalreform.org
Redress, Torture Normalised: State Violence in India (January 2025) https://redress.org/storage/2025/06/Torture-Normalised_State-Violence-in-India-Report.pdf
The Daily Star, ‘HC Blasts Authorities for Not Appointing Doctors in Prisons’ (Dhaka, 6 June 2023) https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/hc-blasts-authorities-not-appointing-doctors-prisons-3339471
The Daily Star, ‘High Recidivism Rates Signal Failure of Prison Reforms’ (Dhaka, 14 November 2025) https://www.thedailystar.net
‘Concerns Raised as Prisons Overcrowded by 232% – Report’ Ada Derana (Colombo, 16 January 2024) http://www.adaderana.lk/news/96437/concerns-raised-as-prisons-overcrowded-by-232
Footnote(S):
1 World Prison Brief, ‘Bangladesh’ (Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research) https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/bangladesh.
2 Ali Asif Shawon, ‘Overcrowded jails raise alarm over health, human rights’ Dhaka Tribune (Dhaka, 12 October 2025) https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/393725/overcrowded-jails-raise-alarm-over-health-human. [Note: Date of publication should be verified by the author — 2025 may be a typographical error.]
3 ‘Concerns raised as prisons overcrowded by 232% – report’ Ada Derana (Colombo, 16 January 2024) http://www.adaderana.lk/news/96437/concerns-raised-as-prisons-overcrowded-by-232.
4 National Commission for Human Rights, Prison Data Report 2024 (January 2025) 31 https://nchr.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/prison-data-report-2025.
5 ‘The burgeoning share of under-trial prisoners in India’s jails’ (CEDA Ashoka, 27 September 2022) https://ceda.ashoka.edu.in/the-burgeoning-share-of-under-trial-prisoners-in-indias-jails.
6 Penal Reform International, Global Prison Trends 2022 (May 2022) https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/GPT2022.pdf.
7 Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Boondh, Menstrual Hygiene Management in Prisons (2023) 12 humanrightsinitiative.org.
8 Yesmen N, ‘The State of Prison in Bangladesh: Disparities Between Law and Practices’ (2022) 6(1) Science, Technology & Public Policy 23.
9 Amnesty International, Sri Lanka: Torture in Custody (June 1999) 11 https://www.amnesty.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa370101999en.pdf.
10 Redress, Torture Normalised: State Violence in India (January 2025) 14 https://redress.org/storage/2025/06/Torture-Normalised_State-Violence-in-India-Report.pdf.
11 UNGA, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (8 January 2016) UN Doc A/RES/70/175, rules 43–44.
12 Penal Reform International, A review of laws and policies to prevent and remedy violence against children in Bangladesh (June 2013) 14 https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BANGLADESH-A-review-of-law-and-policy-to-prevent-and-address-violence-against-children_English.pdf.
13 ‘HC blasts authorities for not appointing doctors in prisons’ The Daily Star (Dhaka, 6 June 2023) https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/hc-blasts-authorities-not-appointing-doctors-prisons-3339471.
14 Khadim Hussain v Federation of Pakistan PLD 2020 Islamabad 268.
15 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, arts 9, 14.
16 Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1978, arts 11, 12.
17 Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Prison Study (25 November 2020) https://www.hrcsl.lk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Prison-Study-by-HRCSL_Concise-Version.pdf.
18 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (adopted 10 December 1984, entered into force 26 June 1987) 1465 UNTS 85 (UNCAT) art 2.
19 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976) 993 UNTS 3 (ICESCR) art 12.
20 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976) 999 UNTS 171 (ICCPR) arts 7, 10.
21 Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3 (CRC) art 37(c).
22 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), ‘General Comment No 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art 11)’ (12 May 1999) UN Doc E/C.12/1999/5.
23 UNGA, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (8 January 2016) UN Doc A/RES/70/175, rules 1, 13, 15, 24.
24 Penal Reform International, Global Prison Trends 2024 (May 2024) 22–24 penalreform.org.
25 ‘Health in Indian Prisons: A study on disease burden and sanitation’ The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia (2023) 15 thelancet.com. [Note: Full citation details — volume, issue, page range — should be added by the author.]
26 Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, art 32.
27 Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, art 35.
28 Constitution of India, art 21.
29 Nelufer Yesmen, ‘The State of Prison in Bangladesh: Disparities Between Law and Practices’ (2022) 6(1) Science, Technology & Public Policy 23, 27.
30 National Commission for Human Rights Pakistan, Prison Data Report 2024 (January 2025) 45 https://nchr.gov.pk.
31 ‘High recidivism rates signal failure of prison reforms’ The Daily Star (Dhaka, 14 November 2025) https://www.thedailystar.net. [Note: Date of publication should be verified by the author — 2025 may be a typographical error.]
32 Department of Community Based Corrections, ‘Reducing Reoffending through Rehabilitation and Reintegration’ (UNODC) https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/ReducingReoffending/MS/Sri_Lanka_-_Reducing_reoffending_through_rehabilitation_and_reintegration.pdf.
