Ministry of Interior Launches GCC Unified Inmates' Week

GCC Unified Inmates Week

The Ministry of Interior launched the GCC Unified Inmates' Week 2023 on Thursday at Qatar Mall, which is annually organized simultaneously in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The opening of the four-day activities under the slogan "let us give them hope and work," was attended by Assistant Director of Public Security Major General Mohammed Jassim Al Sulaiti and representatives of the participating parties, including the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, and the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS).

The activities include an exhibition that highlights the role of government agencies and civil society organizations in the process of reforming and rehabilitating inmates and providing support and assistance to their families. It also presents many awareness messages that aim to spread a conscious culture, contain and accept released inmates, and reintegrate them into society through aftercare.
Marking the occasion, Director of Penal and Correctional Institutions Department Brigadier General Nasser Mohammed Al Sayed said that the GCC Unified Inmates' Week aims to uphold the rights of inmates, highlight the efforts undertaken by the Penal and Correctional Institutions Department, and shed light on this category of society. He noted the importance of such events to enhance community partnership, find out the latest developments and modern methods in dealing with inmates, care for their families, and support the efforts made in developing penal and correctional institutions and upgrading them to keep pace with the progress achieved worldwide in that field.

He indicated that the GCC Unified Inmates' Week is a valuable annual opportunity to introduce what the Penal and Correctional Institutions Department offers to inmates, which includes rehabilitative, correctional, and educational programs, and providing an environment that helps the inmate live a decent life after his release. He stressed that the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Penal and Correctional Institutions Department, does not spare any effort to rehabilitate, reform, and care for inmates in penal institutions, and to this end, it strengthened cooperation and community partnerships with a number of institutions, bodies, and ministries in the country.

In this context, Brigadier General Al Sayed referred to the cooperation agreement concluded with the Community College regarding accepting inmates to enroll in university education at the college, and a cooperation agreement with the QRCS regarding the care and rehabilitation of inmates in penal and correctional institutions humanely, scientifically and technically, stressing that those partnerships achieved distinguished results. He added that the Penal and Correctional Institutions Department carried out professional training for inmates in welding and electrical work, in cooperation with the QRCS and Qatar Technical School, within the training workshops in the institution, where the inmates' creativity was celebrated by the Katara Cultural Village through the "Athar of the penal and correctional institution inmates" Exhibition, which aimed to rehabilitating inmates and enabling them to learn artistic and craft skills in their places.

He said that that the Penal and Correctional Institutions Department seeks to motivate inmates to learn different crafts to benefit from them after serving their sentence, and many other rehabilitative, cultural, and educational programs that it provides and implements. He pointed out that the administration is keen during the GCC Unified Inmates' Week activities to send messages to all segments of society urging the importance of containing released institutional inmates and their families and calling for the need to reduce the negative perception towards them and reduce the gap between this group and society.

The Director of Penal and Correctional Institutions Department also stressed the Department's keenness to highlight the role of its partners from various state institutions in caring for, rehabilitating, and reforming inmates, considering that this role is not limited to inmates, but extends to their families through coordination with it and with the concerned authorities to provide the necessary assistance and provide a decent life.

In turn, Assistant Director of Penal and Correctional Institutions Department Colonel Youssef Bilal Al Abdullah stressed that the GCC Unified Inmates' Week represents a good opportunity for those in charge of punitive and correctional institutions in the GCC countries to exchange experiences regarding the inmates, their rehabilitation, and their return to society as good human beings.

He highlighted the administration's keenness to remove the barriers and obstacles facing the inmate, and to highlight the work that the inmates undertake during the process of their rehabilitation and reform within the institution, in addition to diversifying the methods of reform and rehabilitation, organizing multiple educational, educational and professional programs, and honoring the distinguished among them. It also organizes events for the inmates' families and provides appropriate support.

(QNA)