Prison inmates in Qatar enjoy free education

There are currently 38 inmates of the Central Prison studying at different educational levels and four of those got a score of over 70% at the General Secondary School Exams, a senior security official has pointed out. In an interview to local Arabic daily Arrayah, Colonel Jassim al-Kaabi, head of welfare and rehabilitation section at the Penal and Correction Institutes Department (PCID) at the Ministry of Interior (MoI), explained that education opportunities are open and free of charge for all prison inmates from the primary school up to the secondary school. Also, they can enroll for university studies after the approval of concerned entities and authorities. Inmates take the exams at the headquarters of PCID. He said that the department has successfully treated 100 inmates for drug addiction through “The second chance programme” since it was first launched four years ago. The programme is conducted in co-operation with the Social Rehabilitation Centre (Al-Aween). There are now 29 inmates taking part in the programme and attending treatment sessions with the help of specialised physicians, experts in the treatment of addiction, social experts and psychiatrists. He pointed out that the department takes part in around 10 different exhibitions annually, whether inside or outside Qatar, to exhibit items manufactured by the inmates,  mostly handicrafts. These have won the admiration of visitors. The average annual sales of such products amount to QR40,000. Inmates, who worked on sold items, get half their price after deducting the cost of raw materials. However, the money is saved for the inmate until his release, or otherwise he could use it for buying things from the prison cafeteria. Currently, there are around 20-25 inmates making various handicrafts and there are around 13 women inmates practising mainly dressmaking and embroidery in a separate facility.