Amman -
University professor Youssef Al-Sobh did not expect that his interference in a quarrel between his brothers would lead to his arrest in a reform and rehabilitation center pending a case in which the investigation is still ongoing, which caused him psychological, social and economic damage from which he is still suffering, he said.
Al-Sobh describes his experience in the correctional center - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - as "bitter and painful", especially since his arrest took place with those accused of serious criminal cases, and repeat crimes, in addition to the overcrowding in "the dormitories in which the inmates reside, pressure on public facilities inside the center, and the presence of patients who transmit infection." to other inmates.
The case of Youssef Al-Sobh is not the only one that suffered from overcrowding in reform and rehabilitation centers, which prompted the Jordanian Ministry of Interior to build a new correctional center in Azraq (east of the kingdom) at a cost of $100 million, to accommodate more than 3,000 new inmates, and to develop another prison for light punishments in the area. Swaqa (south of the capital, Amman), in addition to expanding existing prisons, with the aim of reducing overcrowding in prisons in the Kingdom.
The Jordanian Minister of Interior, Mazen Al-Faraya, said - a few days ago in Parliament - that the occupancy rates in prisons are high, as they currently receive about 21 thousand inmates, while the capacity of these centers is about 13 thousand and 500 inmates, and to address this matter, alternative penalties that are not depriving of freedom are being expanded. And the expansion of rehabilitation centers, and the construction of a new center for correction and rehabilitation.
Allocating $100 million to establish a new prison in eastern Jordan (Al-Jazeera)
How much is the financial cost of the prisoner?
The economic cost of the inmate in the correctional centers is about 700 dinars per month (986 dollars), according to the data of the Public Security Directorate, and the cost of 21,000 inmates is about 14.7 million dinars (20.7 million dollars) per month, or 176 million (248 million dollars) annually, and it is located in Jordan 17 reform and rehabilitation centers, including one dedicated to women.
What are the causes of overcrowding?
Security experts and former judges attribute the reasons for overcrowding in Jordanian prisons to "high crime rates", as well as a number of political, economic, social and legal reasons, in addition to the expansion of confronting crimes with "imprisonment penalties, arrest and sending suspects to prisons."
Overcrowding rates are also related to an increase in population numbers, and thus a rise in crime rates of all kinds, especially family and economic ones, the spread of drugs and others, which constitutes a natural situation - according to criminologists - and in contrast, the increase in crime rates compared to the population increase remains within the limits and natural proportions, according to specialists. .
Most of the prison population are repeat offenders (Al-Jazeera)
How can overcrowding be reduced?
In order to reduce overcrowding in correctional centers, former judge Louay Obeidat sees the necessity of "reducing and besieging all types of crimes" by fighting the causes of crimes by building well-being societies equipped with knowledge and science, providing appropriate social and living services such as health and education, and creating decent economic and living conditions, in addition to For society to enjoy its full public freedoms and freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution.
Obeidat summarizes the causes of overcrowding as follows:
The expansion of the executive authority through administrative rulers using the Crime Prevention Law, after the Constitutional Court conferred on it “constitutional legitimacy,” while it violates the constitution and international agreements that entrust the right of arrest to the judiciary alone, while this law violates public rights and freedoms.
The judiciary releases inmates, while the administrative governor returns to arrest them.
Expansion of the judicial authority through judicial suspension as a matter of "preventing evil".
Strictness in replacing minor misdemeanors, for which penalties do not exceed 3 months, by replacing imprisonment with a fine.
Extremism and reluctance to use alternatives to suspension of execution for penalties that do not exceed one year.
Strictness in the use of the discretionary mitigation reasons stipulated in Articles 99 and 100 of the Penal Code. The reason for this is due to the Court of Cassation, which concluded in its jurisprudence that the acceptable reason for mitigation is the forfeiture of the personal right.
Increasing the penalties for most crimes by amending legislation related to the judiciary within the outputs of the Committee for the Development of the Judicial System and Strengthening the Rule of Law for the year 2017.
Last year witnessed an increase in the number of cases registered before judges of the Jordanian regular courts by 4%, as about 465,000 parties sought justice, while their number reached 447,000 in 2021, according to official figures issued by the General Secretariat of the Judicial Council.
While a report issued by the National Center for Human Rights last year criticized the expansion of administrative rulers in administrative detention, the number of administrative detainees reached 37,000 inmates during 2021.
Jurists believe that overcrowding is a violation of the rights of inmates (Al-Jazeera)
Does overcrowding mean a violation of the rights of residents?
In terms of human rights, civil society centers and institutions defending human rights link overcrowding, ill-treatment, and violation of the rights of inmates to correctional centers, which affects the appropriate prison conditions for the residence of inmates, including fresh air, hygiene services, food and drink, and the transmission of skin and respiratory diseases, etc., and these institutions support the establishment of new prisons for what may It constitutes a good solution for inmates to obtain their rights guaranteed by legislation and international agreements.
However, before the establishment of prisons, the executive director of the "Mizan" group for human rights, Eva Abu Halawa, presents a number of solutions that would reduce overcrowding rates, with the need for these solutions to be within the framework of criminal justice, in a manner that does not harm the victim and guarantees the rights of the other party, and is Penalties are a deterrent to the offender.
What are the most prominent of these solutions?
With regard to convicts, one of the solutions is to adopt non-custodial alternative penalties, and alternatives to detention. This is a global trend and the Jordanian Judicial Council intends to expand these alternative penalties. As for those arrested pending cases, the solution is to reduce judicial detention during trials. So that the arrest during the trial is a very exceptional matter, and the use of alternatives to detention, as long as the accused person does not pose a danger to society, and attends the trial sessions.
One of the solutions is to suspend the implementation of the Crime Prevention Law, limit the arrest to the judicial authority only, and the need to review and amend the Correction and Rehabilitation Centers Law of 2001 with regard to the rights of the inmates of these centers, such as the supervising committee, isolation, penalties and complaints inside the centers.
And the past year witnessed an expansion by the courts in the application of alternatives to penalties depriving liberty, and the increase rate reached 500% compared to 2021, and the number of beneficiaries of these alternatives reached 5956 convicts, of whom about 2542 were convicts for the first time, according to a judicial source for Al Jazeera Net.
The prison to be built can accommodate about 4,000 inmates (Al-Jazeera)
What problems does prison cause for detainees?
Socially, sociologists believe that resorting to imprisonment, arrest, or detention constitutes a set of economic, social, and legal problems for detainees, and leads to overcrowding, which violates the rights and dignity of inmates in correction and rehabilitation centers.
The expert in criminology, Hussein Al-Khuzaie, believes that the arrested or the convicted person is followed by a societal stigma from entering prison, and the difficulty of integrating into society after leaving detention, in addition to the negative impact of the arrest on the family, whether the arrest is for the father or the mother and the family’s source of income is stopped, so the prison sentence becomes a punishment for the family as a whole. .
Does contact with criminals lead to infection with crime?
More dangerous than that - Al-Khuzai adds to Al-Jazeera Net - that there are fears of criminal contagion due to contact with repeat offenders, especially since 39% of prison inmates are repeat offenders, and despite the reform centers' administrations following the policy of classification among detainees, overcrowding hinders that classification and isolation among inmates. .
With the statements of the Jordanian Minister of Interior, activists on social media platforms circulated the decision with "criticism", and demanded economic projects instead of the prison project, so as to "achieve Jordanians a decent life" and reduce unemployment rates and improve the living reality.