RIYADH, 10 July 2006 — A Saudi prison specialist, who wished to remain anonymous, has outlined five potential possibilities as to how seven high-profile prisoners managed to escape from the Al-Malaz prison.
The specialist told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, that the prisoners could have escaped in vehicles that bring supplies to the jail or via the help of a relative that could facilitate their escape or with the help of a prison guard or by taking advantage of weak security.
“The fourth possibility,” he said, “is that of prisoners taking advantage of poor supervision during the private family times that prisons give to inmates to spend with their wives and children. Lastly, the prisoners may have intermingled and hidden themselves among maintenance workers.”
The expert described security in Saudi prisons as sophisticated and said that prisons in the Kingdom are inspected by nine government ministries. The expert added that prison-break does not mean that the security at Saudi prisons is weak. He said prisoners should realize that when they escape they end up putting the entire prison, the workers and inmates under investigation and scrutiny.
The man said that most prisoners at the Al-Malaz prison have been imprisoned for serious crimes and are kept under strict monitoring. “The prison has high walls with barbwire and alert guards. The prisoners spend most of their time thinking about ways of escaping, but most fail because there are no loopholes.”
According to the prison expert, there was only one recorded case of prison break at Al-Malaz when a Bangladeshi climbed through an air-conditioning shaft. “He was stuck inside the shaft and ended up putting his life in danger but was saved and placed under even more direct supervision,” said the expert.
