-
HM King receives senior members of royal family and officials, praises alternative sentencing programme results
The Bahrain Open Prisons Programme is an innovative measure that provides middle and high-risk prisoners in Bahraini jails with the chance to reintegrate more successfully back into society. Those detainees selected for the scheme are able to spend the day undertaking community service work outside prison and return to secure but good quality accommodation overnight.
The programme, inaugurated in 2022, forms part of a project alternative punishments in Bahrain and runs alongside the “alternative sentencing” programme, that enables all prisoners, even those convicted of serious security or terrorism offences, to qualify for release on community service, home detention and other rehabilitation programmes.
Of the 48 initial candidates on the 2022 open prisons programme, 13 found permanent jobs in the private sector. This success paved the way for the second batch of 57 candidates.
A Bahrain Government spokesperson said: “As part of the wide-ranging criminal justice reforms, Bahrain’s Courts will now be in a position to make much greater use of alternative sentencing and the justice system will more clearly focus on the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into society.”
This reintegration programme is the first of its kind in the Middle East and sets a standard beyond the region. The International Ombudsman Chris Field, who visited the open prisons programme facilities in Bahrain recently, talked of the high success rate in reintegrating detainees back into Bahrain society and called the programme “the most progressive and positive of its kind anywhere in the world.”
