REHABILITATING OFFENDERS IN PRISONS: PERSPECTIVE OF PRISON OFFICERS FROM AZAD KASHMIR AND GILGIT BALTISTAN

Reducing crime through rehabilitation of offenders is one of the core social functions of prisons in criminal justice system. This qualitative study explores prison officers’ perceptions of offender rehabilitation in prisons. Collecting data by using in-depth semi-structured interview guide, thematic analysis was employed. Five major themes were identified. First, rehabilitation as vocational and occupational training; Second, religious instruction as a form of rehabilitation; Third, the gap between written laws and everyday practice; Fourth, unequal access to rehabilitation based on sentence type; Fifth, drug addiction as the central barrier to rehabilitation. The study concludes that rehabilitation was understood by officers largely in vocational and religious terms, and in practice it operated within a system where written law was consistently reinterpreted by informal decision-making, sentence-based inequality, and resource constraints. Drug-addicted prisoners emerged as a group for whom officers held a firm belief that present rehabilitation measures are not meant for them. This study also offers how officers responsible for the care of prisoners think about rehabilitation mechanisms, as prison officers are a point of contact for incarcerated offenders. Meanwhile, this perspective, topic, and literature are largely missing from the current literature on correctional system of Pakistan. Addressing these all issues vital for transforming prisons into effective correctional institutions that reduce reoffending and promote public safety. Keywords: Rehabilitation, Offenders, Prisons, Prison Officer