NIHR pays field visit to Jau Correction and Rehabilitation Centre

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) has dispatched a delegation to the Jau Correction and Rehabilitation Centre to ensure the inmates’ rights are protected and proper health care is served.

NIHR was informed about the report issued by the General Directorate of Reformation and Rehabilitation on Saturday, which indicated that a limited number of inmates had blocked corridors, refused to go inside their cells and violated instructions over the past days, resulting in hindering provided services, including calls and healthcare for other inmates, as well as in disturbing work procedures.

In line with its human rights and oversight role, and wide-ranging powers vested in it as per the law, NIHR immediately sent a team to the Centre to inspect the buildings that witnessed these procedures, meet a number of its officials, and watch the video recording of the incident.

Following its entry into the buildings and the cells, meeting with a number of randomly selected inmates, as well as meeting with the Centre’s doctor to talk about the general health status of the inmates, the NIHR’s delegation found that the human rights and health situation of inmates is generally reassuring.

It said that what is being raised about their being beaten and transferred to an unknown location is inaccurate, indicating that all inmates were present in the buildings.

In a statement, the NIHR expressed its deep concern over the allegations aimed at creating a state of uncertainty among the inmates’ families, stressing that dealing with inmates at the Centre is done in accordance with a legal and civilised way, as well as with a high degree of self-restraint.

The NIHR urged inmates to cooperate with it in case there are any legitimate requests related to their rights, noting that the actions they had carried out during the past three weeks had deprived the rest of the inmates of their right to enjoy health care and communicate with their families, according to the centre’s regulations, and that some of those deeds may put them in danger.

The NIHR affirmed its commitment to transparency, responsibility, credibility, and the promotion of human rights.