Moroccan jails overcrowded, official report

A report drawn up by the Human Rights Consultative Council (CCDH) on Morocco's penitentiary institutions has found that the country's jails are overcrowded.

Mahjoub El Hiba, member of the Council told a press conference Tuesday, the Council has reached these conclusion after 32 field visits to 29 prisons, in addition to 10 visits to administrative detention centers and ten others to child protection centers.

Overcrowding has reached in the prison of Al Hoceima (north east) 640 percent of the penitentiary institution's capacity, 446 percent in Beni Mellal and 407 percent in Laayoune (south), he said.

The CCDH's report, the first of its kind from this official institution, also put forward proposals requiring urgent solutions, he said, noting that initiatives in this connection have led to the release of 800 persons.

On his part, CCDH chairman, Omar Azziman, said the independent report submitted by the Council to king Mohammed VI last May, is a "great headway" in this field. The council, he noted, has achieved important breakthroughs in sensitive issues.

According to Azziman, CCDH has noted nine cases of violation related to the legal period in police custody, nine others of non-notification of families on places of detention and two cases of illegal detention.

Last week, the Moroccan Observatory of Prisons (OMP) (a non-governmental organization), announced the creation of an Independent Center for Prisoners (CIPR) that will endeavor to "humanize Moroccan jails and preserve the right of inmates."

The Center, to be funded by the British embassy in Rabat, will follow up conditions prevailing in Moroccan detention centers and will receive complaints from the detainees and their families.

This initiative is meant to break the isolation of prisoners and enable the Observatory to oversee closely the situation in prisons, OMP's secretary general, Abderrahim Jamai said.

This non-governmental independent association, set up in 1999 to monitor inmates rights to dignity and human treatment had also deplored poor quality of living conditions, meals and hygiene in prison kitchens.