RIYADH, 31 July — With major prison reforms round the corner, 100 Saudi women will be appointed as jail wardens within two weeks, according to Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Harithy, director general of the prisons department.
He told Arab News that the new recruits will work as guards, accompany prisoners to courts and hospitals and carry out other related duties.
Harithy refused to give an exact number of prisoners in the Kingdom. However, he pointed out 50 percent of them were non-Saudis. “The number of women among them is 15 percent,” he said, adding that 90 percent of them are expatriates.
“The new female recruits are graduates of secondary schools. They will undergo special training inside jails. They will have to fulfill all conditions like their male counterparts, except field training,” he said. The female wardens will be appointed as non-commissioned officers and soldiers, and they could be promoted to the rank of head sergeant, Harithy said.
Informed security sources told Arab News that more women are likely to be appointed in the military and security sectors in the near future.
Harithy said inmates who have completed half their jail terms, showed good conduct and attended reformatory programs would be allowed to go out and work. The prison department has found jobs for 70 inmates in Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah and Dammam in cooperation with labor offices.
“They go to their work places and return to jail in their own cars. They are given nine hours daily to work outside,” he pointed out. About 681 prisoners work at factories and workshops set up by businessmen inside jails, while 120 prisoners work for jail maintenance and catering. Harithy expected a 10 to 15 percent annual increase in the number of prisoners working outside.
The director general expected significant development for Saudi jails in the coming years.
There will be special reception halls for visitors. Iron bars separating the prisoner and visitor will disappear. There will be special cabins to help prisoners contact their kith and kin.
“These facilities will be available at seven central jails this year. Next year seven more jails will have the same facilities,” he said.
Visiting hours will also be doubled, from three to six hours. Harithy said his department was seeking alternatives for jail sentence. The department had set up offices for summary courts at some jails or close to them to give quick judgments. But judges have refused to come over to jails. He hoped that higher authorities would encourage judges to attend these courts with a view to “reducing human misery.”
