Swaqa prison taking 'serious steps' to ensure well-being of inmates — administration

SWAQA — Officials at Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (SCRC) on Monday told visiting local and international human rights organisations that "serious steps" were taken in recent weeks to safeguard the well-being of the inmates.

The SCRC officials’ assurances were made during a visit of over 35 local and international organisations, as well as diplomats and journalists to the facility that witnessed alleged riots, arson and self-infliction by the inmates that were captured on video and surfaced on the Internet. 

The visit was organised by the office of the government coordinator for human rights, in coordination with the Public Security Department (PSD).

Built in 1988, the SCRC is one of 16 correctional and rehabilitation facilities that is 70 kilometres south of Amman.  It is constructed on 50,000 square metres, situated in the middle of a 900,000 square metres of land and could house up to 2,154 inmates.  

It currently has 1,626 inmates, including 225 who are non-Jordanians and 23 awaiting execution.

Brigadier General Ahmad Kafaween, the director of the Kingdom’s correctional facilities, told the visiting delegation that the aim is to ensure that all 14,000 inmates  spread in the Kingdom’s facility would be integrated into  society once they are released.

“We do not look at what the inmate did. We work to ensure that the inmates are enrolled in various recreational, vocational and handicraft training activities such as carpentering and computers to ensure that they find a job when they are released,” Kafaween said.

Kafaween added that “we look at inmates as humans only and we know that each has something good inside him or her.  We look for that goodness and build on it to help them.”

Meanwhile, the newly appointed SCRC Director Colonel Bdour described in detail the events that led to the alleged riots on September 22.

On August 28, Bdour told the visiting members that a group of 180 inmates caused disturbances in the facility, broke windows and stormed into several rooms and took the personal belongings of other inmates, prompting high-level officials to interfere to calm the situation down.

“Their demands included improving the quality of served chicken, to decrease the prices of items sold at the supermarket, to get medical treatment and for the prison administration to refrain from taking any action against them and we adhered to their demands,” Bdour explained.

This, Bdour added, worked against the correctional facility administration because “these inmates realised that they are above the law and no action will be taken against them in any future event, as was the case in August.”

In the meantime, Bdour said, several inmates were attacking and harassing other inmates “who were weak or looked young, sometimes in a sexual manner and we also had knowledge that some inmates owned some illegal substances”.

 On September 16, the prison administration decided to conduct a wide-range inspection campaign, “and we collected over 1,500 trash bags from the inmates’ rooms that had illegal substances such as sharp objects and mobiles and excessive items such as pyjamas, bed sheets and other extra material that they should not own”. 

“We decided to move 151 inmates to different facilities and distributed a new overhaul for the inmates to wear but they refused it and were throwing food on the new garments and this is why the riots started,” Bdour explained.

The delegation was shown some sharp objects that were reportedly found in the possession of the inmates.

 A total number of 27 inmates were referred to the State Security Court on terror related charges as a result of the riot.  Additionally, 13 police officers were referred to the police prosecutor for questioning for allegedly violating duties apart from the charges of smuggling illegal substances to the inmates, including nine mobiles, according to Bdour.

  The prisoners had previously complained during meetings with representatives from human rights organisations of “overcrowding, bad food quality and refusals to their demands to move to different dormitories”.

  Bdour assured the visiting delegation that all the inmates’ complaints were taken into consideration and “that they worked to improve the food quality”.

 The prison director added that the most recent project to integrate the inmates in useful and qualitative activities is to open a radio station for the inmates that is run by the inmates.

 “This is a project that we are keen on starting soon because the inmates need to be able to express themselves,” the police official said.

 Bdour added that the prison administration encourages the inmate to make use of the theatre, the library and the more than 6,000 books there, as well as the football field whereby “competitions are regularly conducted and the winners are given a financial or mental reward”.

“We are working to make sure that each inmate ends up enrolling in some training activity at the facility the minute they are admitted,” Bdour added.

 Basel Tarawneh, the government’s coordinator for human rights said the visit is part of the PSD and government’s efforts to ensure transparency and openness regarding the “riots in Swaqa and to ensure that all human rights organisations that are concerned with the correctional and rehabilitation centres can have access to the establishments regularly”.

  “The aim of our visit is to monitor the latest procedures that are being adopted by the prison administration to deal with inmates and also allow the visiting delegation to meet with inmates themselves in person to learn more about the nature of the services provided to them,” Tarawneh explained.

 The delegation visited the various prison facilities and got a first-hand look at the services provided including “health, food, recreational activities, education and the facility’s environment in general”.

 “We will continue with our regular visits to this facility and other facilities over the next months as part of our activities to ensure that the facilities are up to standards,” Tarawneh added.