Jaw prison facelift project praised

Manama

The Ombudsman Office hailed the Interior Ministry's announcement concerning the inauguration of six new buildings, two at the Detention Centre and four at the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre (Jaw).

The new buildings, which will be inaugurated next week, are part of a scheme to replace old facilities at the reformation and rehabilitation centres with new ones that meet international standards. Ombudsman Nawaf Al-Ma'awda hailed the Interior Ministry's efforts to inaugurate the project, which aims to serve inmates and detainees and improve their living conditions at those centres. He said the scheme is in line with many recommendations included in the Ombudsman Office's report on a visit to Jaw prison, which was issued in September 2013. The report spotlighted key issues including separating the inmates according to their age, installing CCTV cameras in all buildings, corridors and wards while taking into account international standards in this respect and maintaining and renewing the prison's wards and facilities periodically.

Ombudsman Al-Ma'awda pointed out that the new buildings had been designed to take into account the security, safety and healthy living conditions of the inmates, affirming that the recommendation of the Ombudsman Office aim to boost human rights and humanitarian treatment of the inmates and detainees as well as support re-habilitation and re-integration programmes.