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Law on Reward and Punishment of Prisoners

LAW OF REWARD AND PUNISHMENT

OF PRISONERS IN AFGHANISTAN

17 Aqrab 1338

Preamble

For the preservation and general order of the country and the XXXX of property and the population, the state is responsible to punish XXXX and criminals. The main purpose of the state, apart from administering justice in punishing criminals and violators, is to reform the criminals for future social life. In addition, the state XXXX measures to stimulate and encourage the criminal to good behavior and a favorable XXXX to reward these criminals who during the administration of punishment, are XXXX and behave according to the internal law and regulations of the prison as an incentive XXXX good behavior and pleasant attitude. On the other hand, to trace in the prison the XXXX and distasteful actions of the pri8soners and to acknowledge their violations to be subject XXXX more punishment have been inserted and written in the XXXX under the name of XXXX.

PART ONE

RETRIEUTION

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 1: This law will be applicable to all of the prisons of Afghanistan, and the XXXX word prisoner includes male and female.

ARTICLE 2: The prisoners who are released from prison on an extraordinary order XXXX pardon, or by ordinary mitigation of punishment, it will have no effect XXXX upon subordinate punishment which is the consequence of conviction. The conviction shall be recorded in their Register and Identification Card, and because of the pardon, it will not be removed.

Subordinate punishments are as follows:

1. Deprivation of all or part of the social rights.
   
2. Prohibition of residence in a particular place.
   
3. Obligatory residence in a particular place.
   
4. Remaining under police supervision.
   
5. Confiscation.
   

Deprivation from social rights shall bring about the following consequences:

Deprivation from being employed by the State or using State medals; deprivation from the right to elect or being elected; deprivation from being elected as a member of the jury and from the professions of teaching and journalism and certifier, arbitrator or witness in an investigation.

ARTICLE 3: Those who are released from prison, in view of the provisions of this law, must have already paid, or agree to pay, all financial losses which stem from his action and that he was obliged by the final decision of the court to remedy. In circumstances of poverty, if it is proved that the prisoner is unable to pay back the financial losses, he shall undertake the jurisdiction of the Governors of Great Provinces (Nayeb-Al-Hokoma) and the Governors of Provinces (Hokoma Aala) to determine and specify. Another person may undertake to act as surety. If the prisoner has no surety, the matter shall be dealt with according to the Law of Collection of Debts.

ARTICLE 4: The prisoners who are convicted of treason shall not benefit from retribution.

PART TWO

PARDON AND REDUCTION OF IMPRISONMENT

CHAPTER ONE: EXCEPTIONAL PARDON

ARTICLE 5: Pardon and exceptional reduction of term in misdemeanor are felony are privileges that, according to article 7 of the Constitution of the Republican State of Afghanistan, are within the authority of the President and will be granted by him. (See Article 9 (17) of the Constitution of 1964 and Article 3 of Republican Decree No.3.)

ARTICLE 6: The prisoners who, is view of the accomplishment of important service, either obvious or secret, are recognized to deserve exceptional reduction of their terms, the nature of their service that upon its execution is regarded to entitle them to pardon or exceptional reduction, through normal procedure, shall be presented to the President. The acceptance of the aforesaid and the determination of the amount of reduction is within the intentions of the President.

ARTICLE 7: Pardon or exceptional reduction shall take place in honor of coming religious and national occasions. The list containing the names of such prisoners shall be prepared before the arrival of the religious or national occasion, by the employees and officers of the prisons, and it should be submitted to the President through the Ministry of Interior.

ARTICLE 8: The prisoners who are not deprived of pardon and exceptional reduction, if suffering from serious illness, and according to the certificate of the prison’s chief doctor and other doctors, or if there is no doctor in the prison, any other doctor, it is not curable and the risk of death exists before the arrival of the religious and national occasion, under these circumstances the staff of the prison must not postpone the submission of the list of prisoners to the President until the arrival of such occasions, but to submit the list for pardon through the normal process as soon as possible and before the arrival of the religious XXXX

ARTICLE 9: First grade handicap prisoners irrespective of the observance of the term of imprisonment, and second grade handicap prisoners after the termination of half the period of imprisonment, can be entered on the list of exceptional pardons.

NOTE: First grade handicap prisoners are those who are deprived of incurable sight of both eyes, or amputation or paralysis of both legs or both hands or one leg. The second grade handicap prisoners are those where one hand or one leg is amputated or paralyzed as a result of service.

CHAPTER TWO: KHOMS

ARTICLE 10: Khoms is another form of reward that shall be granted for the benefit of prisoners. It is an ordinary reduction of the term of imprisonment under the condition laid down in this Chapter.

ARTICLE 11: The only prisoners who shall benefit from khoms are those whose term of imprisonment is not les than six months.

ARTICLE 12: Khoms is the reduction of the term of imprisonment in such a way that at the end of every month six days of the period of imprisonment will be reduced, as a favor.

ARTICLE 13: Differences of days in calendar months have no effect in the reduction of khoms for every months shall be calculated to be 30 days, and the khoms which is six days shall be counted among reductions.

ARITCLE 14: Variations and differences in days of imprisonment, if it is more than five days, for every five days one day is calculated as khoms, but the khoms of less tan five days cannot be counted.

ARTICLE 15: The period of moving and transporting of prisoners from one prison to another shall also be calculated among khoms.

ARTICLE 16: The prisoners who are charged with the commission of a crime inside the prison cannot benefit from khoms until the renderage of the final decision. If the charge is dismissed, they are entitled to benefit from khoms.

ARTICLE 17: The prisoners who commit a crime inside the prison, and if the second crime requires les than a month imprisonment, until the termination of one-third of the total periods of imprisonment for the first and second crimes, and if the second required sentence of between three months and one year, imprisonment until the termination of two-thirds of the total period of imprisonment for the first and second crime, cannot benefit from khoms. Only the remaining period of imprisonment shall be counted in calculating khoms. If the period of imprisonment for the second crime is more than a year, the right of benefiting from khoms shall be entirely destroyed; the total period of imprisonment for the first and second crime shall be completed in the prison.

The prisoners who are deprived of the right to benefit from khoms or are not entitled to benefit from khoms may become entitled if they perform services which benefit the prison such as, in the event of turning down strikes, XXXX of prisoners, fire in the prison, and other similar important situations, or if they receive injury as a result of the aforesaid situations.

ARTICLE 18: Those who have lost the privilege of benefiting from khoms or where they are not entitled to benefit from khoms if they XXXX XXXX XXXX.

This provision shall also be applicable in regard of those convicts mentioned in Article 17.

ARTICLE 19: The basic term of khoms shall be calculated from the original date that the period of imprisonment is counted.

ARTICLE 20: The determination of the privilege to benefit from khoms shall be done by the committee specified in Article 28 at the end of every three months and after ratification of the Governors shall be implemented.

CHAPTER THREE: CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE

ARTICLE 21: Conditional discharge is the release of a prisoner with a definite term of imprisonment before the expiration of the term, under certain conditions in order to encourage the other prisoners to good behavior.

ARTICLE 22: Those prisoners with not less than three months imprisonment can benefit from conditional discharge provided that two-thirds of their term of imprisonment has been completed in the prison.

ATICLE 23: Conditional discharge does not affect consequential penalties. The lack of legal right and the prisoner’s deprivation from social rights will, if he is released through benefiting from conditional discharge, continue to remain in force until the specified time.

ARTICLE 24: The following prisoners are not entitled to benefit from conditional discharge:

1. Those who are convicted for committing embezzlement.
   
2. Those who forge office files and official documents.
   
3. Those convicted of bribery.
   
4. Those convicted of larceny and robbery.
   
5. Those convicted of obscenity and actions against chastity.
   
6. Murderers and criminals convicted on Tazir sentence for imprisonment.
   
7. Recidivists.
   
8. Criminals convicted of treason.
   

ARTICLE 25: Conditional discharge shall not affect supplementary punishment (which is a form of subsidiary punishment).

ARTICLE 26: Those prisoners can benefit from conditional discharge who, during the period of imprisonment, have not committed any felony or misdemeanor and have observed the prison laws and regulations.

ARTICLE 27: The prisoners who, as a result of the performance of either secret or open service in the field of the prison’s administration or industrial functions, shall receive financial reward and admiration, and shall be regarded to have priority in benefiting from conditional discharge.

ARTICLE 28: During the period of supervision, the prisoners who are released as a result of benefiting from conditional discharge, shall be taken under control and supervision. The security commanding department shall formulate a series of regulations such as:

1. Work and daily amusement.
   
2. Obtaining approval from the relations and people of the village.
   
3. Avoiding vagrancy.
   
4. Abiding by religious instructions.
   
5. Not to leave the place of abode.
   

Regulations similar to this are called behavior instructions and are formulated for the released prisoners and shall be distributed and described to him. Those prisoners who are released by benefiting from conditional discharge are obliged to behave according to such regulations; otherwise, they shall be re-imprisoned and terminate the rest of their terms and imprisonment.

ARTICLE 39: The duty of supervising and controlling the conditional released prisoners shall be given to the nearest local government’s or alaka dari’s police station or any police department that is regarded suitable to the security commanding departments.

ARTICLE 40: The police department which is given the duty to supervise the actions and behavior of the prisoner, according to Article 39, shall send official secret and sealed reports to the security commanding departments at the end of every three months.

The security commanding department shall arrange to have an individual dossier to file the reports.

ARTICLE 41: The sealed report mentioned in the above Article is tabulated and prepared by the Ministry of Interior and distributed by the security commanding department to the supervising quarters.

ARTICLE 42: The intelligence department of the country (Aste Khbarat) shall participate in supervising such persons and a copy of the reports received by them is sent directly by tem to the security commanding department.

ARTICLE 43: If the conditional released persons, after the termination of the period of supervision, commit a felony or misdemeanor, they shall not have to complete the remaining period of imprisonment, but will be subject to punishment for the commission of the second crime.

PART THREE

FINANCIAL REWARD AND IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING CONDITIONS

CHAPTER ONE: FINANCIAL REWARD

ARTICLE 44: Financial reward is the payment of a sum of money to cash to those prisoners fulfilling the conditions laid down in this Chapter. This sum of money is paid to prisoners to encourage them to good actions. XXXX encourage them to do specified duties and work, and the XXXX XXXX

ARTICLE 45: From the revenue of the prison’s industry, a sum of money is to be dedicated annually in order to finance the payment of rewards. The determination of the amount of money shall be made by the Prime Ministry upon the suggestion of the Ministry of Interior.

ARTICLE 46: The determination of the amount of cash reward shall be thus made; in the capital, by the ratification of the Governor upon the suggestion by the prison director and the security commanding department; in the provinces and Hokomat Aala and Kalan, by the ratification of the deputy governor and governor of the district, upon he recommendation of the security commanding departments.

ARTICLE 47: Cash rewards shall be paid to the prisoner, in the presence of a board consisting of the prison’s officers, the police commander, and the representative of the deputy governor or district and province governor.

ARTICLE 48: The date of the payment of the cash reward together with the amount paid, giving the courses and reasons of the payment, shall be endorsed in the prisoner’s file and identification card.

ARTICLE 49: The cash reward, which is paid to prisoners as a result of open services or of good character and behavior, shall be handed over in the presence of the other prisoners with a speech on the prisoners’ services, good character and behavior.

ARTICLE 50: To be worthy of cash rewards, it should be those whose activities and ability, according to Articles 49-54, are proved beneficial to the life of imprisonment and the prison functions.

ARTICLE 51: The prisoners who submit beneficial suggestions in respect of facilitating and acquiring extra industrial benefit and the improvement of industrial workmanship, and their suggestions, in the field of practice, are proved profitable, shall be recognized to be worthy of a cash reward.

ARTICLE 52: The prisoners who confront danger during the execution of duty, in addition to other rewards, shall also be recognized as worthy of cash rewards.

ARTICLE 53: These prisoners who, during the execution of the prison’s industrial work, or any other duty that is given to them, lose a limb of their body or a limb of their body becomes immobile; and the prisoner who, in extraordinary situations such as earthquakes, storms, rebellions or disturbances, etc., gives important and useful cooperation and performs services; in addition to the rest of the rewards shall be recognized as worthy of a cash reward on condition that their services and cooperation are noticeable and confirmed by the evidence of the personnel and officers on duty. The service of the prisoner shall be endorsed in his private identification card and moreover, it will be entered in the prisoner’s general registration file.

ARTICLE 54: The prisoners who receive wages or allowances for carrying out industrial occupations inside the prison, and the prisoners who are not occupied by any job and do not receive any allowance or salary, if they perform any service, each one, according to his merit, shall be recognized as worthy of a cash reward. Whether or not they have any allowance or salary does not affect the granting of a reward. Both classes will benefit equally from the reward.

ARTICLE 55: Every prisoner under the conditions for cash rewards may benefit from it several times.

ARITCLE 56: If the prisoner fulfills part of the conditions for a cash reward but lacks

of the security commanding department; in their file and identification card, the cause of receiving written admiration shall be endorsed.

CHAPTER TWO: IMPROVING THE LIVING CONDITIONS

ARTICLE 57: A kind of reward given to the prisoner is to improve his living conditions. This shall be done in order to encourage the prisoners to good behavior and praiseworthy character.

NOTE: The object of improving the living conditions of a prisoner and providing better facilities in his living conditions is to transfer the prisoner forma a difficult state of living to a stage of easier life.

ARTICLE 58: The prisoners who are subsequently put in a difficult condition (level) of living in view of their period of crime or wickedness, and their daily behavior becomes pleasant, they shall be transferred from a difficult condition of life to an easier condition of life.

ARTICLE 59: By different conditions of life mentioned in Articles 57 and 58, it is meant that from the solitude imprisonment to hard labor, and from hard labor to ordinary imprisonment, and finally to put the prisoners into those duties that give them advantages over the rest of the prisoners, such as Dab ashy, Sad bashy and Nrhstsny mogsyrdhy, etc.

ARTICLE 60: If a prisoner conforms with the conditions described in this Chapter, he shall succeed from his present level to an easier level; if it is required by the prison authorities without regard to specified levels of the aforesaid article, he can be convenienced two stages.

ARTICLE 61: All prisoners with more than six months imprisonment are able to benefit from the terms which aim to improve the ease living conditions.

ARTICLE 62: The elevation of a prisoner from one state to a more appropriate stage shall take place by the recommendation of the immediate supervising officer and the ratification of the prison director.

NOTE: The prisoners who are subsequently committed to solitary imprisonment or hard labor are excluded from this order.

PART TWO

PUNISHMENT

ARTICLE 63: The prisoners who inside the prison and during the termination of the period of imprisonment, commit a felony or misdemeanor, their crime will be investigated according to ordinary practice, and their dossier will be submitted to the authoritative courts through the respective security commanding departments.

ARTICLE 64: Those prisoners inside the prison who do not observe and respond the prison’s laws and regulations and behave against the aforesaid XXXX and XXXX indency, these acts will be regarded as a crime, and its preliminary XXXX will be completed by the prison administration office and XXXX XXXX over to the respective XXXX XXXX

ARTICLE 65: The prisoners’ lack of knowledge of the person’s internal rules and regulations will, in no way, exempt them from punishment.

NOTE: In the early state, or in any other convenient time, after the admission of a prisoner into prison, all the prison’s rules and regulations must be conveyed to the prisoner by the prison’s personnel correctly and in simple language; otherwise, the prison director will be treated according to Article 84 of the section on penalties.

ARTICLE 66: Those prisoners who, inside the prison, while terminating the period of imprisonment, commit a misdemeanor or felony, shall be separated from the rest of the prisoners temporarily, and shall be kept under custody separately. The commission of the crime is not to be endorsed in the prisoner’s file or identification card until the final decision of the court has been rendered.

ARTICLE 67: Whenever a prisoner commits such a felony that involves risk of escaping or risk of covering the object or instrument which proves the crime, or brings about danger to the rest of the prisoners, he will be temporarily put in solitary confinement. To put someone in solitary confinement for more than 15 days, permission must be requested from the officer of the province and Hokomat-e-aala.

NOTE: The prisoners who are mentioned in the above Article can be put in solitary confinement on conditions that the director of the person established that the risk of escaping, concerning the objects of proof, or bringing danger to the rest of the prisoners, is involved, and in this respect issues a written official order. For the determination of their sentences, action will be taken by the security commanding department subject to ordinary procedure.

ARTICLE 68: Those prisoners who have attempted to commit a crime, but before the crime was committed are caught by the prison authorities, shall have their dossiers sent to the security commanding departments; and action shall be taken by the security commanding departments to determine the sentence according to ordinary procedures.

ARTICLE 69: The sentence that is going to be imposed upon the prisoner, if it bears imprisonment, will be added to the prior term of imprisonment.

ARTICLE 70: If the prisoner intentionally disobeys the law and order of the prison, the term of their imprisonment can be extended from one day to one month. The particular of the violation shall be endorsed in their file and career record.

ARTICLE 71: If assault and vilification occurs between two or more prisoners, the director of the prison must investigate the case as soon as possible, and notes on the investigation are sent to the security commanding department for the determination of the sentence. The security commander after considering the notes of investigation will sentence the offender according to Article 77.

ARTICLE 72: The prisoner who damages implements of work, and the occurrence of the aforesaid damage is proved to have stemmed from the prisoner’s carelessness, the term of his imprisonment can be extended up to 15 days. If the damage was done with intentional ill will and wickedness, in addition to the sentence of imprisonment, compensation will be imposed upon the prisoner.

NOTE: Compensation for the damage, if possible, shall be taken from the cash possessions of the prisoner. Otherwise, the above money is XXXX

ARTICLE 73: In the preparation and submission of the list of prisoners XXXX conditional discharge, mentioned in Article 28 of this statue, and after its approval, without any strong prohibition or reasonable excuse, delay is caused or the entitled man is omitted from the list and the man who is not entitled is included, the personnel in charge shall be sentenced from five days to fifteen days imprisonment by the authoritative department.

NOTE: In violating Articles 82-83 if intention and deliberation is envowed, necessary investigation is undertaken and the sentence shall be determined on trial and subsequently penalty for the intention shall be given.

ARTICLE 84: If recklessness appears by the department by the prisons in executing the note of Article 65 of this law, the head of the above department will be sentenced from five to fifteen days imprisonment.

ARTICLE 85: If the officers and personnel of the prison beat the prisoner for any reason, they shall be sentenced to fifteen days to one month imprisonment. Moreover, the use of bad language and swearing contrary to morality and decency against the prisoners are subject to five days to fifteen days imprisonment.