Pakistani prison libraries: an assessment of services and challenges

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to examine the current status of prison libraries, their role, services and collection in Pakistani context. It also attempts to highlight the main problems faced by selected libraries. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative research approach was adopted to achieve the study objectives. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews to find out respondents’ views about libraries in prison. Findings Findings of the study confirmed that inmates’ library queries are mostly related to the legal matters, and it is quite natural. One of the significant services of the Pakistani prison libraries is to help prisoners in their education. The main role of the library caretaker was to educate and offer rehabilitation programs. Unavailability of library space, lack of professional staff, limited collections, poor budgetary situation and censorship issues are the major challenges that Pakistani prison libraries are facing. Social implications The study findings further implicate that open libraries and access to books would promote positivity within society and reduce criminal and immoral acts. Originality/value It is the first of its kind and unique study that presents the current situation of prison libraries in the Pakistani context. The study has practical implications for policymakers to give importance to prison libraries in terms of finance, professional staff and the availability of information sources.

Examining the status of prison libraries around the world: A literature review

“…According to Singh (2014), prison libraries are run by non-professionals in India. It is a similar situation in Pakistan, where members of the clergy are in charge of libraries (Hussain et al, 2019).…”

“…The researchers found fewer research articles in this domain from an Asian perspective. Hussain et al (2019) conducted a study on prison libraries in Lahore and reveal that members of the clergy are the caretakers of prison libraries. Their leading role is to offer prayers as an imam masjid (the title given to the leader of worship in a mosque in a Muslim community).…”

“…The Thane Central Jail library contains books in Marathi, Hindi and English (Mahale, 2016). In Pakistan, prison libraries have gifted books in Urdu, English, Punjabi and Arabic (Hussain et al, 2019). Like other countries, Sri Lanka’s public libraries are formulating policies to provide mobile libraries and reading camps for prisoners in order to improve their access to information (Navaneethakrishnan and Arulanantham, 2013).…”

What do inmates in Slovak prisons read?

“…Actually, the In terms of organization, medium security inmates may personally borrow books (previously selected from the catalogue) from the library accompanied by a member of the prison guard while maximum security prisoners receive the books directly in their cells based on the previous orders from the library catalogue. Unlike Slovakia, prisoners in Pakistan are not allowed to have books in their barracks (Hussain et al, 2019). Registry of library use at Leopoldov Prison is performed both manually and via an electronic system but this is not common in other Slovak prison libraries, where manual registry dominates.…”

“…Despite the various formal and administrative problems of libraries in prisons, they also have an important role in rehabilitation and education of prisoners, as reported from Poland and summarized for other countries (Zybert, 2011). Unfortunately, information regarding library richness and reading preferences is relatively scarce, there are only a few recent reports on the reading preferences of prisoners in Sri Lanka (Chandani and Weerasooriya, 2020) and India (Amaravathi, 2019) or about prison library richness in Croatia, Turkey and Pakistan (Dilek-Kayaoglu and Demir, 2014; Hussain et al, 2019; Šimunić et al, 2016). All these works are mentioned in detail in the Discussion section.…”