Morocco moves to improve detainees' lots

Morocco on Tuesday announced a package of measures part of a large-scale program to improve the lot of its jail population and "humanize" the environment in detention centers.

The Mohammed VI Foundation for Inmates Integration unveiled to the press these actions, including a two million dirham (US$ 200,000) literacy program for detainees. Part of the program, the Foundation entered into partnership with different ministerial departments to join efforts for a better life of inmates, said Mohamed Lididi, member of the Foundation's governing board.

Preserving detainees' rights is given a particular interest in the drive. "A sound integration of inmates necessarily goes through the respect of their rights under detention," said Abdellah El Oualladi, from the Moroccan Human Rights Organization (OMDH).

Efforts made by the Foundation fall under a new approach to integration through a pedagogical work to educate inmates on human rights in general and their own rights in particular, he said.

The establishment of links between inmates and the country's social and economic fabric is a key element of the new strategy of the Foundation.

In this connection, the Foundation is implementing a 35 million dirham (US$ 3.5 million) pilot program for the integration of inmates in their social and professional environment. The project will start in overcrowded jails, the Foundation said.

The new strategy gives a special care to children, as a vulnerable jail population. Thus, Morocco's 16 centers, which host 1,000 children aged 8 to 16 years, will be renovated and endowed with necessary means for a better reeducation of these kids.