The first phase of the Islamabad Model Jail in Sector H-16 is complete and ready to open, a Capital Development Authority official said, ending a wait that began when the project was approved in 2016.
Cleaning is under way inside the compound, landscaping is in its final stages and staff have been deployed by the Islamabad administration, the official said. The inauguration is expected soon, by either the prime minister or the interior minister. No date has been announced.
What phase one contains
The completed phase has three barracks with room for about 1,500 inmates and a hospital of 35 beds. The official put the total spending on phase one at about Rs7 billion, including money spent in the project’s earlier years.
The jail is meant to provide the facilities the jail manual requires, among them food, laundry and medical care, inside the capital’s own boundary. When it opens, it will be the first prison built for Islamabad.
A project approved in 2016, promised for 2019
The scheme was approved in 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs3.9 billion, with completion planned for 2019. It missed that date, and then several more. Funding shortages were the recurring reason, and the plan had to be revised through a fresh PC-I.
Responsibility also moved. The Islamabad Capital Territory administration was originally in charge, with federal funding, and construction sat with the Public Works Department, which has since been wound up. Progress under that arrangement was slow. The CDA took over the work last year, and the pace changed enough for ministers to set an opening target.
In September, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State Talal Chaudhry reviewed the project and directed officials to finish all remaining work for an inauguration the following month. Monday’s account from the CDA suggests that direction has now been met for phase one, even if the formal opening still awaits a date.
Why the capital needs its own jail
Islamabad has never had a working prison of its own. People arrested in the capital, undertrials in federal cases and convicts sentenced by Islamabad’s courts are held at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a Punjab facility that has carried the capital’s prisoners for decades and is widely reported as overcrowded.
That arrangement costs time and money on every court date, since prisoners travel between cities under escort. A jail inside Islamabad shortens that chain. It also gives the capital’s administration direct charge of the conditions in which its own prisoners are held, rather than relying on a neighbouring province’s system.
The remaining question is scope. Phase one holds about 1,500 inmates, and no completion date for the rest of the project was given in Monday’s account. If demand grows past that capacity, the capital could find itself sending prisoners to Adiala again, which is the outcome the new jail was built to end.
For now, the building that Islamabad has discussed for ten years is standing, staffed and being cleaned. The opening ceremony is the last step left.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Islamabad Model Jail?
In Sector H-16, Islamabad. It is the federal capital’s first purpose-built prison.
How many inmates can phase one hold?
About 1,500 inmates in three barracks, with a 35-bed hospital inside the facility, according to a CDA official.
When will the Islamabad Model Jail open?
No inauguration date has been announced. A CDA official said the prime minister or the interior minister is expected to inaugurate it, and preparations are in their final stages.
