The Mabaheth Prison in Al-Haer houses hundreds of detainees on charges of promoting sedition and extremism, drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. However, it does have a model ward occupied by 26 inmates who have showed extraordinary improvement in their conduct and are receiving favorable treatment.

Several journalists were recently allowed to visit the correctional facility to see how inmates are being treated, an online daily reported.

While some of them expect to be sent to the Prince Muhammed Rehab Center, others are awaiting trial, which may end up with their execution.

Some of the detainees subscribe to the takfiri ideology (declaring other Muslims non-believers) with links to terror organizations. Others are such extremists that they refuse to have a national identify card, ATM card or read newspapers. Even scholarly religious teachers who conduct counseling sessions have failed to break some of these hard-liners.

These inmates are not open to new ideas. They stick to their differing dogmas with conviction. One of them has even made paper cuttings of the Islamic State’s areas of influence.

Some have been violent in the past. Despite the ban on knives and sharp utensils in the wards, some cut their bodies with sharp objects smuggled inside. The journalists were shown several sharp objects devised by inmates who attacked prison officials in 2012 injuring 70.

In contrast, the model section with 25 rooms has been taking inmates for four months. The ward has theaters and playgrounds for children, bedrooms and well-furnished kitchens. Inmates are allowed to live with their wives and children for 72 hours at a time in five-star facilities. A private company supplies food and drink. It is equipped with all means of communication. The inmates are also served by specially trained female hosts.

The wards have laundries, kitchens and barbershops. Visiting rooms provide privacy for families. The late Prince Naif, while opening the facility, had ordered the removal of the separating wall in the visiting hall so that families could have close contact.

More than 643 inmates have joined various classes and university programs since the new academic year started. The prison also has a central security hospital with 28 beds and 34 doctors including cardiac surgeons, ophthalmic doctors and dentists.

There are also specialists dealing with diabetes, blood pressure and mental disorders such as suicidal tendencies and schizophrenia. Isolation cells with a space of 2x4 meters have television sets, and bathrooms without roofs.

Several inmates told the journalists that they wanted their families to visit more often, transfer to other wards, and have their trials speeded up.