This was not the case with a former inmate, who claimed that the treatment inside her home was bad.

She said that most of the girls were left with no choice. They either suffered inside the shelter or at the hands of their families.

An inmate at a shelter home, who did not wish to reveal her name, was admitted after she escaped from her home in Hail. She was 19-year-old when she was transferred to the home in Makkah by police.

She told Arab News that she experienced terrible domestic violence as her father, brother and stepmother beat her continuously.

“My nightmare started midway through 2009. My father works in a top government job in the health sector,” she said.

“I was receiving bad treatment from him, my brother and stepmother. I tried to commit suicide two times before. The third time I almost succeeded but I was admitted to the hospital in time. I spent two weeks in hospital under observation.”

She added that her father felt embarrassed by the whole situation and wanted her out of the hospital, fearing that his reputation would be damaged.

The father felt ashamed that his daughter was trying to commit suicide. Yet before he had the chance to discharge her, she escaped.

She stayed with her friend for one month before police were able to track her down and arrest her.

“I was sitting with my friend in the living room when police raided the house. I went out in my abaya only and spent the first day in police custody. The next day, police transferred me to the shelter home,” she said.

She says the first day was very tough for her. Guards at the shelter home confiscated all of her belongings, including her money and contacts book. She said that they even forced her to undress and wear a new uniform.

“They even scrubbed my hand because I had written the phone number of one of my relatives,” she added.

She claimed that the guards were aware of the torture marks all over her body, but they did not even care. She was then thrown into solitary confinement so she would not mix with other inmates.

The same day, a supervisor entered her room and demanded that she clean the floors, an order she refused to carry out.

On her second day, she met with a social worker who helped her fill out necessary paperwork and listened to her story.

“The social worker helped me to continue my psychological treatment and she even suggested to the manager of the shelter home, Hasina Hawsawi, that I should be transferred to a social protection house as I had not committed any crime,” she said.

Yet Hawsawi refused to discharge the girl, saying that the only people who would be allowed to discharge her were her family or the police officers who initially brought her in.

The shelter home consists of two floors and accommodates up to 80 girls of all ages. The girl said that it is in poor condition and there were lots of cats and cockroaches running around. She added that sometimes the food was not enough and inmates would have to rush to eat at mealtimes or sleep hungry.

“The chicken is not enough and the meat is rotten. Many of the girls are forced to fast most of the day.”

She said that there were punishments for those who went to bed late or overslept. Anyone found awake after 10 p.m. would be punished by being forced to stand in front of the supervisor’s room for many hours.

Anyone not awake by 5 a.m. would also have to stand in front of the supervisor’s room, balancing a folded bed sheet on top of her head.

“There is financial aid from the government for each girl inside the shelter home. The money is supposed to be spent on the inmates’ clothing, food and many other things,” she said. “Sometimes those who have been successfully rehabilitated are not released because the home wants to continue benefiting from the financial aid. Sometimes they end up staying for one more year.”

Hasina Hawsawi told Arab News that she has been manager of the shelter home for 29 years and hit back at the allegations against her.

“Why are these people focusing on the negativeness and avoiding the positive things we do? Each government department has a positive and negative side. Why is the press focusing on our negative points and forgetting about the positive things we do?” she said.

She added that those who criticize people in her position should try to do her job, claiming that she had responded to the allegations against her in a document supported with evidence.