DUBAI’S LARGEST JAIL FREES HUNDREDS OVER HOLY MONTH TO CURB INFECTIONS
▶ Dubai Central Prison cut inmate numbers by 35 per cent, allowing many locked up for minor crimes to walk free
Dubai’s main jail released hundreds of inmates serving sentences for minor crimes as part of efforts to reduce its population.
The move cut prisoner numbers at Dubai Central Prison by up to 35 per cent in recent weeks.
Hundreds are pardoned by the country’s rulers for Ramadan every year, but the move was part of broader attempts to protect inmates during the coronavirus outbreak, officials said.
“We received directives to release inmates and since the outbreak, there are 30 to 35 per cent fewer prisoners,” Brig Ali Al Shamali, director general of the Department of Punitive and Correctional Establishments at Dubai Police, said during a tour of Al Aweer.
“We want to reduce the number on a daily basis, especially release those with simple cases, not ones accused of big crimes.”
He declined to say what the total prison population was this year, but officials previously said the jail can hold about 4,000 inmates.
For Ramadan, President Sheikh Khalifa pardoned 1,511 inmates on April 21 and a further 1,899 were released by the rulers of Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah the next day. More prisoners were released for Eid on Sunday.
Those pardoned have the chance to return to their families or their home countries, depending on the terms of their release.
The use of video conferences is another way authorities are trying to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the complex.
Behind a soundproof glass door, a prisoner spoke with someone on a computer screen after visits to the Dubai prison were suspended. In another room of the same compound, about 35 kilometres from the city centre, another inmate appeared for a virtual court hearing, while a third was questioned by a prosecutor online.
“We are trying to eliminate all direct contact with prisoners, heavily depending on modern technology,” Brig Al Shamali said. “We can guarantee the health of the inmate, but how can we know whether someone from outside is carrying the virus?”
Prisoners in the Dubai jail can now talk to their families using Skype.
Brig Al Shamali declined to say how many prisoners had caught the coronavirus, but said there were no active cases and the overall number could be “counted with fingers”.
Those in which mild cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed required only “isolation and simple treatment”.
Everyone, whether serving time or employed at the jail, was tested, “without exception”, in co-ordination with health authorities, Brig Al Shamali said.
Inmates and staff must wear masks and gloves at all times, some classes and workshops have been suspended and the prison gym is closed.
“We seek to reduce contact at work but our main concern is that we continue to provide the same quality of service, even if it is from afar,” Badr Sultan, a prison doctor, said from his office.
Dr Sultan said most medical consultations took place by video. New inmates are tested for Covid-19 and isolated for 48 hours before admission, Brig Al Shamali said. In a nearby clinic, a dermatologist asked an inmate to describe his skin condition, prescribing an ointment after seeing the infected area on screen.
In another room, a psychiatrist spoke online to an inmate about the “daily pressures” of life during a pandemic.
The safety measures in the prison have been hard on inmates, some of whom are used to spending their days in workshops and recreational classes. A group of seven prisoners had been working on producing the largest cardboard sculpture. The goal is for Guinness World Records to certify it. Cardboard domes and arches were scattered across a prison recreation room – parts for a scale replica of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – but the virus restrictions have slowed work on the project for the past two months.
“I came to the UAE in 1999 and I loved the design of the Sheikh Zayed mosque, so I studied it and sought to build the biggest cardboard model by 2021,” said the inmate in charge of the replica.
“We have put the project aside for now. The question now is: ‘What do I do with my time here?’”
Prisoners are pardoned every Ramadan, but the move was part of wider attempts to protect inmates from Covid-19