Major General Ali Bin Hussien Al-Harithy, chief of the Prisons Authority, said prison officials have opted to set up new measures to help inmates become employed after their release. He said the authorities had found that employers refrain from employing people with criminal records. To combat this, they had come up with new procedures which will conceal first two offenses from employers. General Al-Harithy said the inmates will be not be socially stigmatized and excluded if employers do not know of their past criminal behavior. He said the Prisons Authority is in the process of generalizing the experiment it had introduced in Jeddah's General Prison of training inmates in certain skills to enable them to earn their living and lead an honest life when they complete their jail term. General Al-Harithy also commended the cooperation and understanding from private businessmen in supporting training programs to encourage employment once prisoners have left prison. He said chairman of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry represents the private sector in the Prisons Supreme Council. General Al-Harithy said the Prisons Authority is studying a plan to expand the training scope of the inmates by seeking the help of the Industrial Cities Commission in opening industrial cities around the prisons for the training and employment of the inmates. He pointed out that the emergence of industrial zones will enable the inmates to work within the prison's boundaries. The General Establishment of Technical and Vocational Training has so far established 13 centers and institutes inside the prisons for the training of the inmates in different skills, he said. The rumors circulating about a lot of inmates suffering from tuberculosis in the Kingdom's prisons have nothing to do with the reality of the situation, he said. He said the health committee recommends the release of a prisoner with an infectious disease. – Al
