AMMAN —
Minister of Interior Mazen
Faraya told Lower House members during a parliamentary address on Sunday that
the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Centers can accommodate 13,288 inmates, while the actual number of people in
prisons in Jordan currently is 19,140, which makes its occupancy rate 144
percent.
اضافة اعلان
Deputy Ghazi Thneibat, member of the
Lower House Legal Committee, asked the minister what is the total number of
inmates that can be held in Jordan’s correction and rehabilitation centers, a
question prompted by the possibility that legal penalties might be re-imposed
on Jordanian debtors in the near future.
A study by
Human Rights Watch, titled
“We lost everything”, released in March 2021, revealed the tough reality and formidable
legal obstacles that many borrowers may face in Jordan.
The report stated that “about 16
percent of Jordan’s prison population was locked up for nonpayment of loans and
bounced checks in 2019”, and that “over a quarter-million Jordanians face possible
imprisonment due to debt delinquency”. This gives some insight into why the
occupancy rate in prisons in Jordan has been steadily increasing over the past
few years.
Commissioner General for Human
Rights Alaeddin Armouti told
Jordan News
that “the latest prison statistics revealed by the Minister of Interior are
an indication that the prison population in Jordan is becoming rather overcrowded”.
“This is problematic, because a
higher occupancy rate in our prison systems will most likely mean that managing
these inmates will become a more complex and daunting challenge in the future.
An occupancy rate of 144 percent is a clear sign that our prisons are most
probably operating in a manner that is beyond their maximum capacity. We have
criticized this in the latest report on human rights released by the National
Center for Human Rights,” he said.
Armouti said that much of the prison
population includes people who have been administratively detained for different
reasons, such as organizing illegal protests and political movements, and some
have been arrested for speeches.
“Jordanians have the right to
peacefully assemble; it is a right protected by the Constitution. We must
remember this before we mistreat anyone for their views and opinions,” he said.
Article 15 of the Jordanian
Constitution states: “The State shall guarantee freedom of opinion. Every
Jordanian shall be free to express his opinion by speech, in writing, or by any
means of photographic representation and other forms of expression, provided
that such does not violate the law.”
Jordanian lawyer and human rights
activist Samir Jarrah said “the current prison occupancy rate, 144 percent, is
concerning. This is a very high number. The capacity of our rehabilitation
centers is not quite organized, at the moment. In my opinion, the option of
using alternative punishments and penalties, besides prison, should have been
more extensively explored over the past few years. Some of these alternatives
include mandating community service work, instead of putting individuals in
prisons, for example”.
Jarrah noted that the
Ministry of Justice has some reports on its website that outline some of these alternative
punishments, and that implementing these alternative measures can partially
solve the issue of prison overcrowding.
He also said that “some estimates
show that it is costing the Treasury nearly JD100 per day to deal with each
prisoner, and this is mostly spent on guarding and subsistence fees related to
inmates”.
Recidivists, or second-time perpetrators
of the same crime are particularly vulnerable to stricter penalties from the
justice system, he said, and they make up a sizable portion of the prison
population in Jordan.
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