Shabrawi & Ashwaq Al-Tuwaireqi THE fall of a female inmate from the second floor of Dar Al-Wafa social protection home in Makkah three weeks ago has raised questions about safety conditions at rehabilitation centers and counseling programs to transform inmates into productive citizens. The adopted girl's mother said she had lost contact with her daughter for a week. "We later received an SMS saying she had fallen from the building and had undergone an operation," the mother told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. She said the girl was unable to contact her because the management had seized her cell phone while she was in hospital. The mother visited the girl at the center and found the wound she sustained from the fall was deep. She believed that someone might have pushed her down from the building. The mother expressed her regret over the girl's decision to waive her claim in the police report, saying this has prevented her from lodging an official complaint with the concerned authorities. The woman wanted to know what forced her daughter to keep mum on the incident. According to her, two girls had left the center the next day, raising new questions. Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, the girl said when she went up to the room of her colleagues on the second floor she saw the balcony open and the iron fence removed. Then one of the two inmates asked her to get down to the courtyard from the balcony using a ladder but she refused to do so. "While I was sitting on the verge of the balcony that overlooks the garden I fell to the ground. I don't know whether one of the inmates pushed me down or I fell because of dizziness," the girl explained. One of the inmates had requested the home's administration not to inform the girl's mother about the incident but the latter said the follow-up office would decide it. The girl said she had been staying at Dar Al-Wafa for the last eight months following a conflict with her mother on issuing the national ID card. She expressed her readiness to return home soon after obtaining the card. Abdullah Al-Tawi, director general of the Social Affairs Ministry's branch office in Makkah region, said he does not agree with some of the details mentioned about the incident that occurred months ago. But according to the medical report, the girl was admitted to Al-Noor Specialist Hospital in Makkah on Jan. 11, 2016, for treatment and she remained there for a week. Abdul Wahab Al-Shibli, spokesman for Makkah Health Affairs, said the hospital had given the girl the necessary treatment after she was admitted there with an injury. The women's section of the National Society for Human Rights, meanwhile, said the protection home is located in an insecure and unsuitable place. They said the rehabilitation and counseling programs provided by the center to its inmates were not satisfactory. Moreover the inmates lacked activities to develop their capabilities while society looked at them negatively. They are also denied recreational facilities such as mobile phones and computers and are not allowed to go out of the center. The inmates have also complained that they are not allowed to continue their education and they do not receive nutritious food. The NSHR also pointed out most families had abandoned their convicted daughters. Legal researcher Al-Jowhara Al-Ghamdi and administrator Hala Al-Mahdi visited the center and gave a detailed report on its performance and conditions. They called for fundamental changes to improve the condition of center's inmates. "We have received complaints about environmental pollution as the center is located near petroleum factories," said Al-Ghamdi. As a result the inmates have been suffering from various diseases such as asthma but they do not receive proper medical care. Al-Tawi said the ministry was in the process of developing its social care facilities across the country by setting out a new roadmap, which aims at redesigning its rehabilitation and counseling programs to improve the condition of inmates at social protection home and turn them into productive citizens. He also spoke about efforts to improve facilities and services at Dar Al-Dhiyafa in Jeddah. Abdullah Bin Marae Bin Mahfouz, legal adviser and deputy chairman of the committee to take care of prisoners and released prisoners (Tarahum), said his organization was ready to provide moral and material support to social care centers in the region. "We have been conducting a lot of programs to improve inter-family relations. We have a committee of lawyers that provides free legal support to women victims of family violence," he said. Nasreen Abu Taha, director of Dar Al-Dhiyafa in Jeddah, said behavioral problems of inmates at social care centers differ from one region to another. She stressed the need to restrict freedom of inmates at these centers to avoid trouble. "We need qualified and trained officials to deal with inmates and correct mistakes and find good solution for each mistake." Abu Taha added: "We should not try to correct a mistake by another mistake. I used to deal with problems through dialogue with girls and this allows me to change their behavior through advice. We should deal with them in such a way that they should feel that we take care of them and work for their goodness. We should give them the love they missed due family conflicts." The social care homes should also inject confidence in the minds of inmates, Abu Taha said. "We should foster qualities of love, tolerance and forgiveness among the inmates and their families on the one hand and in society and among employees of social care centers on the other," she added.
