A Ministry of Interior committee has recommended that foreigners imprisoned for financial or minor offenses be released and deported, describing their presence in the Kingdom's prisons as “pointless”. The committee report, seen by Okaz, cites “foreign prisoners held for unpaid customs fines or bank offenses of no more than SR50,000 which have prevented them leaving for their home countries”. The report follows a study of prison conditions and recommends tackling overcrowding through releasing some prisoners, particularly foreigners, many of whom are due to be deported upon the completion of their sentences and for whom the committee said it was “pointless keeping them in prison”. The committee said foreign prisoners should be released and deported “as long as the crimes committed are not serious and are not security-related or connected to the smuggling or dealing of drugs, arms or explosives”. Also recommended are alternative sentences to prison in cases of public action, and deportation for minor offenses. “The now complete operation of the fingerprint system prevents persons returning to the Kingdom under different names or passports”, the report says. Other recommendations in the report include increasing the number of prison wards at some penitentiaries and providing already existing ones with medical services to “match the requirements of prisoner numbers”.
