JEDDAH: Most of the complaints registered by inmates of jails across the Kingdom pertain to either delayed trial, detention without trial or remaining in jail even after the completion of sentence, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has said.

Among the serious things the HRC found in some prisons was prisoners suffering from tuberculosis kept together with healthy prisoners.

“A number of complaints were about bad treatment. Also, the commission observed during some its tours to prisons that there were insufficient number of beds and covers compared to the number of prisoners,” Omar Al-Khouly, legal consultant of HRC, was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.

The HRC confirmed that it managed to handle a number of complaints after taking up the matter with the government agencies concerned.

Figures issued by the HRC for the lunar calendar 1433 A.H to 1435 A.H. showed that the number of complaints received by the commission’s branch in Makkah was 224. Eighty of them were lodged by women inmates. The number of cases referred to other government bodies stood at 63.

The HRC addressed 93 complaints, according to each type of the case, Al-Khouly said, adding that 68 complaints are still under consideration.

The number of complaints received by Jouf branch of HRC was 21, Eastern Province 42 and in Hail 13. All the complaints revolved around the rights of inmates.

Al-Khouly said the HRC also noticed the spread of tuberculosis among prisoners some wards as TB patients were not kept separately.

Besides, the rights body found that prisoners were facing difficulties on mandating relatives to appoint lawyers for their defense, he said.

“The commission also received complaints of people whose cases are still in courts being kept with hardened criminals,” Al-Khouly added.