Jordanian security authorities have been early alerted on the risks of the coronavirus outbreak inside the reform and rehabilitation centers
As soon as coronavirus cases were detected in the Kingdom, the Interior Ministry and the Public Security Directorate began implementing a plan to release about 10,000 inmates, who were incarcerated for financial obligations.
Meanwhile, many prisoners protested the government’s decision to ban visits to prisons for two weeks as a precautionary measure to avoid new coronavirus infections.
Reports indicated that riots have erupted at Irbid Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, about 80km north of the capital, Amman, causing several casualties.
It is noteworthy that there are about 18 rehabilitation centers in Jordan’s different cities.
After the government’s decision to release about 10,000 inmates at the beginning of the health crisis, the number of prisoners remaining still exceeds 12,000, a security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The National Center for Human Rights has been monitoring prison conditions and detention procedures since the beginning of the crisis and has called for releasing those jailed for a short-term period.
Regional Director for MENA at Penal Reform International Taghreed Jaber has praised the measures taken by the judicial council to release and suspend penalties on a group of inmates, stressing that these measures aim at ending the over-congestion phenomenon inside prisons.
The Jordanian government also decided to close schools, universities, and tourist sites, suspend all flights to and from Jordan and praying at mosques and churches.
