Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on Thursday that her own experience of imprisonment had shaped her understanding of the hardships faced by inmates, as she highlighted a series of prison reforms introduced by the provincial government.
Addressing a conference on jail reforms, Maryam said the Punjab government had implemented modernisation measures across prisons in the province, including the introduction of video-link facilities for all inmates and emergency response buttons aimed at providing prompt assistance and improving prison conditions.
She said her time in custody had given her first-hand insight into the physical and psychological challenges of incarceration. Maryam recalled spending 24 hours in solitary confinement at Adiala Jail, saying the experience had made her aware of the impact such conditions could have on a prisoner’s mental health.
She said that only those who had experienced imprisonment could truly understand the pain and hardships of life behind bars. The Punjab chief minister said she and her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had been imprisoned simultaneously. During that period, she said, her mother was critically ill, but prison authorities did not allow either of them to meet her. She added that they had been denied the opportunity to see her mother or spend time with her during her illness.
Recalling another incident from her imprisonment, Maryam said her blood sugar level had dropped while she was in jail, but no one came to assist her. She said her hands had been trembling, causing a container of jaggery to fall to the floor and break, after which she picked up the jaggery from the floor and ate it.
Describing the prison cell, Maryam said there had been a washroom on one side and a sleeping area on the other without any partition separating the two sections.
She added that the absence of a partition left her uncertain about where to spread her prayer mat. Maryam said those experiences had enabled her to understand the sense of helplessness often felt by prisoners and had reinforced her commitment to improving prison conditions across Punjab.