Pakistan’s Prison Paralegal Program
Haya Emaan Zahid and Shahzaman PanhawarPakistan’s criminal justice system, similar to many other legal
systems, is based on a complex web of procedural and substantive
laws. Marred with colonial era legislation, there are numerous challenges facing those who are caught in its vicious trap. To begin with, thepolice service is designed to act more as a “force” for exercising control overthe local population as opposed to building ties with the community forfurthering law and order. Investigations typically rely on torture to extract
confessions. An overburdened judicial system provides little light at the endof the tunnel for the exasperated litigant or the innocent under trial prisoner
languishing behind bars. This situation is exacerbated by frequent adjournments of court hearings and weak court caseload management system that
protracts cases. The prison, probation and reclamation departments remain
underutilized and underfunded and fail to provide viable alternatives to custodial sentencing which would yield rehabilitation related outcomes. Added
to this are the endemic levels of corruption that are deeply entrenched ateach stage of the criminal justice process. Underprivileged, marginalized
and illiterate citizens face impossible odds that lead to inevitably desperate solutions. Worse yet, the miserably low conviction rate, estimated to beunder 4 percent for convictions on merit, indicates that the criminal justicesystem is not only failing to deliver justice, it is simply incarcerating the innocent and is being deliberately misused by those that wield influence andpower.
Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners
In this backdrop, the provincial government of the province of Sindh inPakistan established a quasi-government committee called the “Committee
for the Welfare of Prisons” (cwp) in 2004. The cwp has since its inception been headed by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid , a retired Chief Justice ofthe province who was later elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The
cwp was tasked with primarily providing legal aid to female prisoners andHuman Rights Education in Asia-Pacific | Volume 9, 201991

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juveniles and to undertake related welfare work. Over the course of the lastfifteen years of its trajectory, the cwp has strengthened and institutionalized into a premiere legal aid service provider which offers legal aid to firsttime petty offenders incarcerated in twenty five of the province’s twenty seven prisons. Its reach was expanded to adult male prisoners in 2011 and theterms of reference were widened to include policy and research work but
most notably “legal empowerment” related work. The cwp has continued
to play the role of a de facto public defender’s office in the absence of suchagency within the formal state apparatus. The unique aspect of this quasigovernment initiative is that it is premised on a public-private partnershipmodel in which its operations are privately managed.
As part of its on-going research mandate, the cwp conducted a baseline survey of 1,042 adult male and female prison inmates from across fiveprisons in early 2018. The primary purpose of this starting point survey
was to identify, for the first time, the current levels of situational and legal
awareness, empowerment and access to legal representation and legal aid
for prisoners. The study also provided the opportunity to assess inmateson rehabilitation needs including vocational and skills-based training andmedical and psycho-social services. The study allows for an evaluation of
the satisfaction of under trial prisoners with the legal representation thatthey are currently receiving from the cwp and allows measured assessmentsof the awareness of legal aid services in general.
The principal findings of the survey reveal that when prisoners wereasked if they had legal representation, only 58.35 percent answered in theaffirmative (four hundred thirty one under trial prisoners [utps], one hundred seventy seven convicts) while 36.85 percent prisoners indicated they
had no legal representation (three hundred thirty utps, fifty four convicts).
The majority of female respondents (91.84 percent) had legal representation(thirty five utps, ten convicts) which is not a surprise considering that they
comprise small numbers in the overall population of prisons.
Out of the 1,042 prisoners surveyed, only four hundred forty six (43.56
percent) knew what stage their trial was at and five hundred eighty respondents (56.66 percent) did not know. Out of the five hundred eighty respondents that did not know what stage their trial was at, four hundred sixtyfour were under trial. Further to this, three hundred thirteen who had legal
representation had no understanding of the trial process. Absence of suchbasic information about their own case indicates a complete exclusion from

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their own defense or control over the trial process. When prisoners wereprobed further about whether respondents know about the various stages
in a criminal trial two hundred thirteen male respondents (20.80 percent)knew the stages in a criminal trial, while the vast majority – eight hundred
twenty-two respondents (78.89 percent) – did not know the stages in thecriminal trial. This figure included one hundred sixty nine convicts that had
been through the process themselves.
There is a marked difference in knowledge levels between male andfemale inmates with 42.22 percent of female inmates knowing the various
stages in a criminal trial. This can be attributed to the fact that a legal literacy initiative has been running in the female prison in Karachi for a longer
time than in the other prisons.
In discussing the state of legal literacy or general awareness of legal
rights it appears that a large percentage of respondents 88.89 percent of
the males and 77.55 percent of the females could not identify a single fundamental right provided under the Constitution of Pakistan, including theright to a fair trial, prohibition against torture, illegal detention, the freedomof movement etc. For male respondents, 9.75 percent of respondents could
only identify one out of the twenty-three Fundamental Rights and only fifteen out of the 1,026 male respondents could identify two or three rights. No
respondent could identify more than three fundamental rights.
In terms of assessing the potency of such laws and rights through application and utilization, the respondents were asked “What can a person
do if they are illegally detained?,” “if their property is taken by the government to construct a road?,” “if their child is prevented from going to school?,”“if they are denied government employment based on their religion?” 76.34
percent male and 79.59 percent female respondents did not know what to do
if they were illegally detained. 76.88 percent male and 77.55 percent female
respondents did not know what to do if their property was acquired by thegovernment for public use. 77.88 percent male and 81.63 percent female
respondents did not know what to do if their child was denied education.
88.21 percent male and 93.88 percent female respondents did not know what
to do if they were discriminated against based on religious beliefs.
Much like the criminal and civil procedure codes applicable in Pakistan,prisons are governed and managed under colonial era legislation. Whilethe enabling framework is found in the Prisoners Act and Prisons Act, theday-to-day administration is detailed across 1,250 rules contained in what is

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known as the Jail Manual/Pakistan Prison Rules (1978). Segregation, food,admission, visitation, remissions and other aspects are detailed in these.
Access to and knowledge of prison rules and legal entitlements created bythese rules can help detained people improve their lives in detention, andbenefit from rehabilitation and reform activities as well as earn remissions
in their sentence. Prison rules also provide a system of protection by providing for an oversight and complaint mechanism for inmates who may have agrievance against another inmate or against prison staff.
To gain an understanding of the level of knowledge prisoners had of thisscheme, the respondents were asked basic questions such as “Are there any
rules regulating prison living conditions?” or “Is there a mechanism to file acomplaint against another inmate?”
Respondents were asked about prison rules governing living conditions;35.22 percent of adult male respondents were able to state one or more rules
governing living conditions, 10.75 percent of respondents said there were no
rules governing living conditions in prison, whereas 53.74 percent of adultmale respondents said they did not know if there were any rules. Awarenessof prison rules appears to be higher at the Women Prison Karachi with 59.18
percent of female respondents knowing rules governing prison conditions
while 18.37 percent of respondents said there were no rules and 20.41 percent said they did not know any of any rules. When asked if there were any
rules regulating prison visits, only 28.98 percent of male respondents answered yes and could specify how often a prisoner could receive visitors every week. The majority of adult male respondents (68.81 percent) said they
did not know of any rules regulating prison visits. Knowledge of prison rules
regarding visitation was significantly better among female respondents with
75.51 percent of respondents knowing that there were specific rules regarding visitation and that prisoners could meet with visitors every week. 14.29
percent of female respondents said they did not know of any rules regarding
visitation.
Remissions in sentences, i.e., reduction in the number of days a convict has to remain in prison, are allowed for various charitable and rehabilitation-oriented activities including donating blood, gaining education,
learning the Holy Quran by heart, or for good behavior and assisting withprison chores, etc. Unfortunately, the vast majority of male (68.81 percent)and most female (40.81 percent) prisoners did not know of this available
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male respondents said that there was no such system. Only 23.70 percent of
adult male and 26.53 percent of female respondents said they knew of theremission system.
Prisons are a setting in which the imbalance of power is at its greatest between the detained and the detainer. Hence, knowledge of redressal
mechanisms and how to access them effectively is essential in ensuringtransparency in the systems and accountability for state actors involved.
Respondents were asked about their awareness of procedures for filing acomplaint against another inmate. 38.87 percent of male and 69.39 percent
of female inmates knew how to file a complaint against another inmate.
Only 29.27 percent of adult male respondents said they knew of prison rules
permitting them to file a complaint against a prison official. This is significantly lower than the 73.47 percent of female respondents that reported thatthey knew of the mechanism for filing a complaint against a member of theprison staff.
Moving Towards Legal Empowerment Methods
The cwp has been providing legal assistance to underprivileged under trial
prisoners since 2004. Over the course of its operations during the last fifteen
years, it has provided legal representation to 16,674 prisoners and has assisted 4,300 prisoners secure bail. On average, it is estimated that about ninetytwo cases of incarcerated prisoners are resolved every month through its
efforts. However, at any given point in time, the cwp’s resources permit it
to provide legal representation to around 1,000 prisoners. The population
figure of under trial prisoners had fluctuated between 12,000 to 18,000 overthe last thirteen years. As of 31 December 2018, under trial prisoner population stood at approximately 15,040. One can easily conclude that the needfor free and effective legal representation continues to exceed the supply ofthis service.
Rule of Law and Access to Justice oriented initiatives tend to focus singularly on improving the capacity of the state and state actors to provide
justice-related services. On the other hand, legal empowerment programming works on improving the capacity of the consumer of justice, i.e., thecitizen struggling for the entitlements the law provides him or her with. In
2014, the cwp shifted its gears from an approach that relied exclusively on
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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9that includes legal empowerment approaches to increasing legal knowledge
among prisoners. The approach is understood in three parts:• Knowing the Law: Prisoners form one of the vulnerable segmentsin the justice system, and as such focus was placed on enhancing
legal awareness and access to practical information which could
help them understand their legal position and their legal options.
This can in turn uplift them especially out of the vicious circle ofvictimization. This can vary from simply knowing who to approachto complain against an abusive prison warden or understanding therights and modalities of filing appeals;• Using the Law: Unfortunately, simply knowing the law is often notenough to be able to use it. Once a person knows about the relevant
substantive and procedural laws, they should be able to use them,i.e., act upon them to seek justice. This translates into being able toknow which judge you can complain to or how and when you canapproach the members of the local district oversight committees
that are meant to conduct external oversight over the local prison.
There are still numerous barriers to justice that an average person
has to overcome. They may need resources to seek legal representation. They may need community support to stand against a powerful opponent. Legal empowerment programs extend support tojustice seekers to help overcome these odds and actually use thelaw;• Shaping the Law: Quite often governments, especially those indeveloping countries, suffer from resource constraints which do
not permit them to collate the latest statistics and data to basetheir policy decisions on. As a result, they often rely on stale data.
Regrettably, this is the case with most policy reform in Pakistan as
we notice new policies being based on perception rather than evidence. There is a severe lack of primary data, without which there
can be no meaningful impact assessment or continuous improvement. Legal empowerment programs can help gather primary data.
In assisting people to access the justice system, programs can document user experiences to create an evidence base for policy reform.
If we look at the data that the cwp has collected, meaningful recommendations can be made based on an analysis of sentencing patterns, procedural issues such as non-appearance of witnesses, or
non-production of the accused etc.

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These three components of a Legal Empowerment program can improve the outcome for an average justice seeker. An empowered justiceseeker can compel justice providers such as the police, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, investigation officers and prison officials to improve their performance and deliver on their duties and obligations. The collective experienceof a large number of justice seekers can help improve the state of the justicesystem by making it more responsive to the needs of the people. Within
this context, this paper describes the workings of the unique prisoner-led
paralegal program conceived by the cwp to assist a wider array of prisoners
in achieving justice outcomes and is currently operational in four prisons in
Sindh province.
Prison Paralegal Program
The prison paralegal program was conceived in 2014 by the cwp. The objective was to create a sustainable mechanism for all new inmates in the prison

A trained female prisoner leads the paralegal class at the Women’s Prison in Karachi. The
class is attended by new admissions in the prison. The prison currently accommodates
one hundred twenty-three adult female prisoners.

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Lawyers from the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners monitor and supervise theparalegal class which is being conducted by a trained prisoner at Karachi’s largest prison
facility the Central Prison. The prison currently accommodates 4,758 adult male prisoners.

system to be informed on prison norms and rules, prisoners’ rights and duties as well as the criminal justice system and to spread legal literacy among
all prisoners in selected prisons.
The basic concept of legal empowerment is gaining an understandingof the law and having the ability and human agency to make independent
decisions and to exercise control over one’s life. A paralegal is a person who
is trained on substantive knowledge of legal matters but is not qualified asa lawyer.
Paralegals work to help their community and assist individuals and thecommunity on different legal issues. A “prison” paralegal is a prison inmate
who is trained on knowledge of basic laws including criminal law, prison
rules, fundamental rights, criminal trial process, as well as other relevant
civil laws such as property law and family law. What this paralegal can do isprovide information instead of rendering legal advice. All Prison Paralegals
are volunteers who take up the role because of various motivations mostof which stem from an internal need to find satisfaction. Prison Paralegals
are convicts and have experienced the frustration of being a new arrival inPakistan’s Prison Paralegal Program99

prison with little knowledge of laws and procedures and limited options ofnavigating through the system effectively.
Paralegal programs inside prisons in countries such as Malawi and
Sierra Leone are successful. However, their model has utilized community
paralegals, i.e., paralegals who are non-prisoners accessing prisons to provide legal literacy and information. The cwp model, therefore, differs as themain providers of information are those who have the same set of experiencein most cases as that of those who are seeking justice. The prison paralegal
is from the same community in this way and hence the authenticity of hisor her voice is established from the onset in terms of him being empathetic
towards others. His or her legitimacy is further established as the convict
has experienced the trials and tribulations of the criminal justice system as
a whole in some ways.
Selection of Trainees
A unique methodology was established for selecting and training paralegals
as well as monitoring and supervising their performance. Each prison has a

A trained prison paralegal conducts a class at the Central Prison in Hyderabad. The prison
currently accommodates 2,300 prisoners and is classified as a high security prison.

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unique environment and peculiar culture (quite often the tone is set by therelevant Superintendent in-charge) and inmates of different profiles. Districtprisons house the under trial prisoners or those that are serving shorter sentences for less severe crimes while the Central Prisons have the high value
targets or those convicts serving longer sentences. When implementing thePrison Paralegal Program across four different prisons variations had to
be made keeping in mind the prison population, ratio of convicts to undertrial prisoners, security concerns, resources and the cooperation of prison
authorities.
Cwp has trained staff with relevant knowledge of substantive laws andtraining on adult teaching methodologies. This staff engages in screening
convicts and selects suitable candidates who are given substantial legal
training.
The training comprises of eight training sessions which vary dependingon whether the program is in adult male or female prisoners. The substantive areas of training include• What is Law and the Constitution,• Fundamental Rights,• Criminal Law,
• Criminal Procedures,• Probation & Parole, and• Prison Rules.
Additional customizable topics include laws about the family, domestic
violence, property and inheritance. Juvenile justice may be added for legal
literacy classes conducted in juvenile detention facilities. Once this basic
training is provided an advanced class session is held to enhance paralegal
skills which also revises the substantive content but focuses on the teaching
techniques. It is pertinent to mention that the selection of the right candidates for the training plays a big role in ensuring the success of the programin the future.
Paralegals are not remunerated or compensated in monetary terms.
They are volunteers who show interest in performing the tasks of a paralegal. Hence during the screening the selectors look for a long-term engagement. The convicts who are serving sentences in excess of five years as aminimum threshold are screened. The paralegal must be literate and must
be able to read and write in the local language (Urdu/Sindhi).

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Training of Paralegals
The first stage in the training consists of eight training sessions that coversubstantive topics as mentioned above. The training is carried out by an

Trained prisoners are selected based upon their ability to read and write Urdu and Sindhi.
The trainees in this picture are convicts serving time at the Central Prison in Hyderabad.

experienced lawyer who has been trained in adult teaching methodologies
and is an expert in using interactive teaching techniques. The training uses
a Paralegal Reference Guide, developed in English, Sindhi and Urdu languages, which is an illustrated tool kit with lesson plans and content for eachof the eight sessions.
The substantive training component is spread over eight classes (varying between two to three hours depending on the topic). Once completed,a post-assessment is conducted to ascertain shifts in knowledge base. Thisis primarily done through a show of hands method. This post-assessment ispreceded by a pre-assessment at the beginning of the training.
Out of the batch of trainees, those who would advance to the next stage
are carefully selected based on the ability to read and write, eagerness andcommitment along with length of conviction. These selected trainees then

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progress to stage two of the training. In this stage, sessions focus entirely
on delivery of content, teaching methods, interactive teaching and othertraining skills as opposed to the substantive content. Lesson plans developed by experts at the cwp are used. Each selected trainee is given a chance
to conduct a mock training session. Feedback is provided and the process
is repeated for improvement. These sessions are attended by other trainees
and new jail admissions.
Stage three of the process results when the trainees have become comfortable doing training and have obtained the approval of the supervisinglawyers. In this stage the paralegal trainees have progressed onto becoming
prison paralegals and are conducting the entire session independently.

A prison warden looks on as a lawyer from the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners
conducts a master training of selected prison paralegals at the Central Prison in Karachi.

Paralegal Work
Once the training component is over, the implementation part commences in which cwp’s lawyers robustly supervise and monitor the quality ofthe sessions the paralegals are conducting. The selected convicted prisoners working as paralegals commence orienting new jail admissions on legal rights, remedies and criminal law and procedure. They use interactive

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teaching methods in order to ensure participation and meet learning objectives. The population of the prison and estimates on admissions determine how often the classes take place. Sessions are planned twice a week
at Central Prison Karachi but only once every two weeks at the Women’s
Prison. The cwp provides training material, a Paralegal Reference Guide,
posters and pamphlets, etc. along with training equipment and resources
like whiteboards, markers, note pads, etc. and assist the paralegals in securing adequate teaching space inside prisons.
Successes and Advantages of the Prison Paralegal Program
The Prison Paralegal Program was rolled out in the Women Prison in
Karachi in 2014 which has an average population that fluctuates between
one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty women. After four years, the program is operational in four prisons (three adult male facilities and one female facility) located in the cities of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. The
program interventions have recorded one hundred eleven prisoners having been trained as master trainers through training sessions. These trained
paralegals have provided legal information to 2,569 prisoners. In fact, theparalegals have also facilitated prisoners in connecting them with support
services such as the lawyers of the cwp. The program has secured allotmentof three teaching/working rooms for the paralegals in the prisons in Karachi
and Hyderabad. This allows the paralegals to feel a sense of belonging andpride and ensures visibility as others can access them routinely in this officespace during scheduled times.
Upon completion of the training itself, trained paralegals are entitled toobtain fifteen days of special remission in their sentence granted at the discretion of the Inspector General of Prisons, who heads the department. This
incentivizes convicts to sign up and attend the screening sessions. In addition those who undergo the training experience improvements in their legal
knowledge and skills as well as enhance their communication, leadershipand organizational abilities. Paralegals also develop an ability to teach andmay learn social mobilization skills. Further to helping those that attend thetraining sessions or information sessions, a multiplier effect is observed in
the prisons as the flow of information passes. Inmates who need other typesof assistance can be connected to other service providers, such as medical
services, or to other rehabilitation services such as literacy or vocational

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skills classes and this multiplier is likely to continue once paralegals complete their sentences and return to their communities as reformed and law
abiding citizens.
Since 2014, cwp has trained more than one hundred prison paralegals
in the four prisons of the Sindh province.
Individual stories provided below illustrate the value of the paralegal
program.
Case Study: Asim

Paralegals in the Karachi Women’s Prison use role play techniques to help prisoners
understand the system of rights and privileges they are entitled to.

Asim was a twenty-eight year-old paralegal who had been working with the
cwp since 2015. He attended the paralegal training classes when he was anunder trial prisoner and showed great enthusiasm and promise as a trainer
and over the course of three years became the most experienced paralegal
that cwp had trained.
He was deployed at the Central Prison in Karachi, which is the biggest
prison in the province. The Central Prison currently accommodates 4,876
prisoners.
Asim came from a large family, with five sisters and three brothers. He
was the youngest in the family, and being the most educated, he took on
all the financial responsibilities for his mother and sisters when his father
passed away in 2007. Asim’s family is from the Swat Valley, however his fa-

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Lawyers working for the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners assist the trained
prisoners in conducting a class at the Central Prison in Sukkur. The prison currently
accommodates 1,310 adult male offenders.

ther moved the family to Khairpur in the province of Sindh in search of better economic prospects. The family moved again from Khairpur to Karachi
when Asim was in primary school. Asim continued his education completing his Intermediate and some basic computer courses to get a start in the
Information Technology (IT) sector.
He was enrolled in the first year of his undergraduate degree in
Computer Science when he was arrested and put in prison for the first timein 2012. He was merely twenty-two years old at that time. The arrest wasover a dispute relating to his ancestral lands in Swat. When his father passed
away in 2007, the family found out that they had substantial property in
Swat. The insurgency was in full swing in 2007 and Swat was practically ano-go area. However, Asim returned to Swat to claim his father’s property.
The property had been adversarily possessed and claimed by distant relatives. A local influential person who refused to recognize the family’s claim
threatened Asim with dire consequences. Undeterred, Asim pressed his

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claim and began the process of regularizing the paper work. When the occupiers of the property realized that Asim would not back down, they usedtheir influence to register multiple cases against him in Karachi, Lahore andPeshawar alleging that Asim was driving a car with fake number plates. All
the cases were registered within days of each other and a First Information
Report [fir] was first registered against him on 28 March 2012. Asim has
been confined in prison since 2012, and continued to prove his innocence.
Asim has also been the victim of a predatory legal profession and has
engaged four different lawyers over the course of his first two years in prison.
Each lawyer charged between twenty and fifty thousand Pakistani Rupees.
Eventually fed up with inadequate representation, Asim decided to fight hiscases himself. He was acquitted in the last case against him in April 2017 andwas then transferred to Peshawar to face the cases lodged against him there.
The cwp assisted Asim in securing his transfer, which was pending for noreason for almost a year after he had been acquitted of cases in Karachi.
Asim’s involvement in the paralegal program proved to be beneficial tothe program and to Asim himself. His experience in navigating the legal system on his own has been a big asset for the program. He credits his ability toargue his own case to his learning about the law from the paralegal training
sessions and from his interaction with cwp lawyers who would guide himfrom time to time. He also feels the program has helped him develop teaching skills and improved his relationship with prison administration.
Asim has also been a keen advocate for the program, spreading awareness of the service among prison inmates as well as the prison administration and the media. His commitment to the program was entirely voluntary
and was based on his desire to assist others who are in the same position as
he once was. Asim claims the program has been hugely beneficial for new
inmates – helping them to come to terms with the new environment. Before
the paralegal program, older inmates would help explain the law and otherissues to new inmates, however, having a structured program to create basic legal awareness has really helped participants feel more confident andhelped give people hope. Improved legal awareness can empower people toseek relief. Access to reliable legal information and advice through cwp lawyers is also an essential service. Most inmates in prison complain about being taken advantage of by their lawyers or not being given updates or explanations about case progress. Some unscrupulous lawyers make big promises
and then consistently fail to deliver once they have received fees. In such

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situations, the paralegal program and access to legal advice can help inmatesby either guiding them on procuring legal services or in understanding theircases better.
The Prison Paralegal Program has a long way to go, and Asim’s advice isthat the program should be spread to reach every prisoner in the province.
He says a prisoner is completely cut off from society and compares inmatesto a mobile phone from which the sim (subscriber identification module)
card has been removed. Over time, relatives visit less frequently and trips
to court, the only temporary respite from prison, also become less frequent.
In such situations, any service that can help people secure early release or areduction in their sentence, or can make their lives in prison more humane
and tolerable is a valuable service to society.
Case Study: Naila
Naila Gulfaraz has two sons aged between ten and sixteen years. She belongs to a conservative family and was married off at an early age. Prior tobeing imprisoned she worked as domestic help and earned 15,000 Pakistani
Rupees a month. Naila has been incarcerated for ten years at the Women’s
Prison in Karachi. In August 2008, a fir was registered by the police in Police
Station Sachal (avcc), Karachi under section 365-A/34 ppc R/w Section 7(e) of Anti-Terrorism Act which provides for a maximum sentence for life
imprisonment and forfeiture of property to the extent of 100,000 Pakistani
Rupees. She had been punished for the alleged crime of kidnapping of aneight-year-old boy. At the time of her incarceration, she was four months
pregnant and her husband abandoned her and took away her eldest son. Her
second son was born in prison, and eventually upon her request shifted toan orphanage where he resided for five years. Despite her abandonment andchallenges, Naila continues to fight for her rights. In prison, she has participated in several activities including both recreational and capacity-building
activities. These have included parlor training, stitching, computer training,
and attending the paralegal classes.
Naila is one of the convict paralegals trained by cwp-lao (Legal Aid
Office). As a paralegal she has been able to help herself, and also other female inmates and people in the community by guiding them on different
legal issues. She was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court within

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c · V o l u m e 9 , 2 0 1 9eleven months of her case. When she first went to court, she did not haveany knowledge on how and what to say before a judge. She said:
If I had knowledge of the law then I would definitely havetaken a stand for myself and my scenario would have been different now. Now as I see my case, I totally get it that the crime was
imposed on me. False witnesses were presented and I remained
silent as I was totally blank and shocked at the moment and had
no legal knowledge.
Through the legal aid clinics and paralegal training, she gained legal
knowledge and is now able to answer and guide others in avoiding and stopping injustices.
During her imprisonment, she filed a case of Khula (divorce) against her
husband and won the case. In 2014, she filed an application for her children’s
custody so the same may be awarded to their maternal uncle and aunt.
She continues to support and help other female prisoners, particularly
the newly incarcerated inmates:
New incarcerated inmates discuss their cases and ask me forthe best possible option. I provide them with legal knowledge as
per my understanding and the limit to which I can counsel them
being a paralegal. I have also guided them not pay for the copy of
documents even if a court clerk demands for it.
Most of the female who are incarcerated commit heinous
crimes after being victim of domestic violence and being abusedby husbands. We guide them that it is not necessary for you toadopt the wrong path by doing unnecessary crimes instead of it
there are legal ways through which issues can be solved, which
includes: by complaining at the police station, through advocacy
of media and by support of ngos.
Naila has been able to extend her support, knowledge and help evenoutside prison. She advised her cousin Asma who was suffering from an
abusive marriage and whose abusive husband took away her son. Naila guided her cousin in using legal options and in successfully filing a khula andcustody case against him, providing legal support throughout the process.
She also counseled Asma’s father, her uncle to take a more gender-friendly

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and supportive approach towards his daughter, resulting in a happy resolution for Asma.
Experience shows that most of the inmates come to prison with little tono knowledge about the due process of law including the procedures governing bail, prison decorum, types of crimes and their corresponding punishments. Thus, it becomes essential to make the prisoners become awareof these procedures and codes of conduct. This helps them utilize available
remedies and also helps them to frame their conduct according to the prison
rules and other concerned codes of conduct.
Under the Prison Paralegal program, the convicts are provided training
and resources for this purpose, and in turn are rewarded by remissions andthe sense of purpose and fulfillment. For prisoners, there is a readily available resource within the prison to provide them with basic legal information.
Future Directions
In order to make the program sustainable, it is imperative to expand thenon-financial incentives being provided. Currently, the provision is limited
to a fifteen-day remission for every six months of teaching. Additional incentives in the form of special allowance for transferring a convict paralegal
to a prison closer to her/his relatives may also be provided. In this way theconvicted prisoner is likely to receive more visits from his family members
than would be the case if she/he is imprisoned and serving sentence in a far
away district prison. The cwp is also desirous of helping reintegrate thosetrained convict paralegals who complete their sentences and require support to start over in society. The proposal is to reach out to them and connect them to work as paralegal staff or clerks with law firms.
The scaling of the program and its replication in other prisons will require funding for the cwp’s trainers and supervisors. It is proposed that one
new prison facility be added every year for the cwp. Once the initial threestages of training are completed, monitoring costs will also reduce over time
and the program can run sustainably.