JEDDAH, 3 August — The number of prisoners including women who attend school sessions inside jails has risen to 2,125, Al-Riyadh daily reported quoting Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Harithi, director general of prisons.
The prison directorate in conjunction with the education department conducts awareness campaigns for prison inmates throughout the Kingdom about the importance of education. Efforts are also made to persuade the prisoners to join classes of various levels commencing in jails when the academic year starts in schools outside. Classes are held for illiteracy eradication, adult education program and intermediate and secondary school levels. An inmate can get primary education certificate in three years of attending the adult education program.
"Investment in prisons may not be as profitable as in some other sectors but it serves some vital humanitarian and social goals," Al-Harithi observed.
The director general expected significant development for Saudi jails in the coming years. He also said some of the inmates would be allowed to go out and work. They will go to work in their own cars, he added.
