JEDDAH, 2 March 2004 — One prisoner died and 10 were injured in a fight in a Taif jail on Sunday. The fight escalated from an argument between two cellmates at dinner time, according to a report in the local press.
Special forces were called in to quell the fight when the jail’s warders lost control of the situation.
“The quarrel between two inmates developed into a bloody fight as other inmates joined in breaking iron beds and chairs for use as weapons,” Al-Watan Arabic daily reported.
The injured were treated at King Faisal Hospital. One prisoner, on death row for murder, died at the hospital of head wounds.
Meanwhile, the National Committee for the Welfare of Inmates and the Released has decided to train prisoners in a number of professions by conducting special workshops.
The move aims to help prisoners to earn an honest living once they are out.
Prisoners will get training in computer skills, electronics, air conditioning and refrigeration.
The committee includes Dr. Ali ibn Nasser Al-Ghafees, governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training.
Abdullah Al-Muqrin, chairman of the committee, said skills were selected in accordance with local market requirements.
“These workshops will later extend across the Kingdom,” he told Al-Eqtisadiah, a sister publication of Arab News.
Experts from the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training will conduct the workshops.
