PDRC affirms open prisons project success

Manama, July 16 (BNA): The Commission for the Rights of Prisoners and Detainees issued its report on the first announced visit to the Open Prisons Complex.

The meeting was attended by Ghada Hamid Habib, Ombudsman and Chairman of the Commission for the Rights of Prisoners and Detainees, and Sheikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Director General of Implementation of Sentences and Alternative Sentences.

The committee was briefed on the services as well as rehabilitation and training programs provided to the beneficiaries of the open prison program, in addition to the modern facilities and equipment and advanced technologies used in implementing the program, which adds to the successes of the alternative penalties project.

The report stated that this visit gained special importance, being the first of its kind for this complex, and given the special nature of the open prison complex as an unprecedented pioneering experience in Bahrain, which prompted the Commission for the Rights of Prisoners and Detainees to make qualitative adjustments to the visiting mechanisms, verification principles, standards and indicators. which differ significantly from those used for visits to correction and rehabilitation centers, pre-trial detention, and other detention facilities.

The visit reflected the level of positive and constructive cooperation between the center and the Ministry of Interior represented by the General Directorate of Enforcement of Sentences, Alternative Sentences and Penalties, which showed great cooperation in organizing this visit and making it appropriate and useful.

The report of the Commission on the Rights of Prisoners and Detainees summarized its visit to the open prison complex as follows:

The open prison complex provides high-level rehabilitation services, according to a detailed plan and in successive and organized stages, with the aim of facilitating the process of integrating the beneficiaries into society again, in a more smooth, gradual and timely manner.

The idea of ​​open prisons and its application in Bahrain provides more positive options for the supervision and enforcement authority at the Ministry of Interior represented by the General Administration for the Enforcement of Sentences, Alternative Sentences and Penalties when dealing with categories of inmates who are candidates to benefit from alternatives. Penalties, in terms of expanding the options for rehabilitative activities and incentives for their good behavior through the possibility of benefiting from the opening of prisons.

It is also an opportunity to train specialized cadres in the Ministry of Interior, especially in the General Directorate of Enforcement of Sentences, Alternative Sentences, and Penalties, to deal with different groups with more professionalism and specialization, and to accumulate practical experience in this field, which offers a broader vision of training, qualification, and the humanitarian role in dealing with them.

This reinforces the human rights methodology in the various agencies of the Ministry of the Interior, especially in the fields of training and rehabilitation.

The open prison complex in Bahrain meets all the standards and indicators of the state of the place in terms of excellence and quality, which can be easily detected through the cleanliness of the place, the arrangement of its facilities, its enjoyment of the best standards of security and safety, and the distinguished living services it provides through meals, means of living, means of entertainment, and high-level health and sports services.

The center’s report praised the open prisons project and the advanced services it provides, including health and living care services that are provided to beneficiaries.

She also praised the dedicated efforts made by the complex’s management to prepare the beneficiaries for reintegration into society and the search for suitable jobs for them, which are integrated with the alternative punishment program and enhance its legal, social and humanitarian goals.

Rial