Human rights society will inspect more jails

Riyadh: The Saudi Society for Human Rights plans to make an inspection tour of prisons in Madinah, Assir and the Northern Border Province in the near future.

"This is part of a series of visits being made by the committee members to various jails in the kingdom to take stock of the general situation of prisoners and their living conditions before presenting comprehensive reports about the outcome of their visits together with recommendations to the higher authorities," said Dr Mufleh Al Qah'tani, head of the Monitoring and Follow up Committee at the society. He said that the last visit was to Qaseem prison on March 7.

According to Dr Al Qah'tani, the society presents detailed reports about the visits to the Ministry of Interior as well as to the Prisons General Directorate following every trip.

"The report contains the society's observations of what its members saw inside the prisons. The members usually draw attention of the authorities to several pressing matters such as overcrowding of prison cells, cases of prisoners who have completed their terms, and those who were in prisons still awaiting the start of trial proceedings," he said in a press statement here yesterday.

Dr Al Qah'tani commended the Prisons General Directorate for its initiative to improve the condition of prisoners in line with the recommendations made by the society members after their visits.

"The society members noted in their reports that most of the people who were languishing in prisons after completing their jail terms were expatriates. They found that the main reason for this predicament is attributed to the failure on the part of sponsors in securing their release," he said.

The jail authorities, according Dr Al Qah'tani, started expansion works of most of the prison buildings to ease the overcrowding of inmates, thanks to the recommendations made by the society. "We will review the progress of the ongoing expansion works at these prisons during our next visits," he said.

Dr Al Qah'tani expressed satisfaction over the positive approach of the authorities in addressing most of the problems faced by prisoners, and those that were raised by the society in its reports.