Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, Tuesday signed contracts with a national group to create four complexes, in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Taif, to help prisoners become productive members of society after serving their terms. The Ministry of Interior is expected to soon announce details of the project. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Ali Bin Hussein Al-Harthi, Director of the Prisons General Administration, disclosed that 19,000 prisoners have been released under the Royal pardon issued by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to mark the safe return to the Kingdom of Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, after his surgery in the United States. He said the citizens and expatriates who were released do not pose any danger to public security and pointed out that the number would rise to 23,000 after procedures for releasing prisoners are complete. He said people who have been pardoned include those who have been convicted of simple crimes and violations and emphasized that pardons have not been granted to people who have been held or convicted in major crimes. Maj. Gen. Al-Harthi drew attention to the fact that more than half of those who received pardons are expatriates. He confirmed that they would be deported to their home countries, according to regulations. He said the close follow-up of procedures for executing the pardon and directives by Prince Naif have contributed to an increase in the number of people covered by the pardon. He said it is Prince Naif's view that there is no need of foreign prisoners remaining in the Kingdom's prisons after they complete half their prison term. For this reason, Maj. Gen. Al-Harthi said, the number of pardoned expatriates exceeded that of pardoned citizens.
