Project afoot to humanize Algerian prisons

Primitive and overcrowded is the condition of Algerian prisons… a government initiative, launched in the year 2005, aimed at reforming the penitentiary system in the country. Further efforts were carried out by the European Union.

Basma Karasha - Algiers, Al-Hayat

More than 40,000 prisoners are confined in 128 overcrowded prisons in Algeria. 61% of these prisons are quite old and some of them more than 100 years old. Justice officials in the country have responded to the concerns that have been raised about these conditions in prisons, and efforts are being exerted to build 81 new prisons. The European Union is supporting the modernization of the prison system in Algeria, with 17 million Euros out of the 18.5 million Euros that constitute the total cost of the project.

Officials at the Ministry of Justice consider that the Modernization of the prison system project, or “Justice II”, launched in June 2008 and expected to last until the year 2012, is a great step towards “strengthening the respect of human rights and affirming the independence of the judicial system in the country”. Amendments to prison conditions aim at improving the treatment of detainees and at facilitating their reintegration back into society.

The government is working to set up 81 new penitentiaries in the country to make prisons less crowded and reduce the risk of serious hazards, such as fires that spread in prisons. In fact, 27 inmates were killed in 2002, in a fire outbreak in a jail house in Chelghoum El Aid in the province of Mila. 22 others were killed in the same circumstances in Serkadji prison and another 29 were injured in El-Harrache prison, both in the capital city of Algiers. Officials believe such incidents are due to the fact that detention houses are dangerously overcrowded.

Urgent action needed
Despite efforts to improve anti-fire measures, such accidents remain possible. Therefore, the Algerian government is urgently working on building 13 news prisons before the end of the current year. Efforts are also being deployed to close the high-security prison of Sekadji in Algiers, where 6000 inmates are detained, and open up a new one in the Tébessa Wilaya, nearby Algiers. It is worth noting that 59 out of the 128 penitentiaries in Algeria were built before the year 1900, as stated by the Director General of Penitentiary Administration and Reinsertion at the Ministry of Justice, Mokhtar Falyoun.

The Modernization of the prison system project in Algeria is articulated around 4 main components: enhancing the living conditions of people behind bars, developing training and activities in prisons to facilitate the reintegration of former prisoners in the society, respect of human rights, training of prison staff, and implementing modern communication tools inside prisons. These measures included in the new law, should favor the alignment on international conventions signed by Algeria. The project’s priority is to develop social work and enhance the participation of the civil society to help in the reintegration process of former prisoners.

Minister of Justice, Al Tayeb Belaiz, stated lately that more than 150 journalists and activists in human rights organizations visited Algerian prisons this year in an effort to determine the measures that will help the modernization of the prison system in the country. The Ministry worked hand in hand with local associations, such as the Algerian Islamic Scouts, to facilitate the reintegration of former prisoners in the society.

Efforts are also being made to review legal and structural frameworks in detention houses, such as finding alternatives to imprisonment, through social work or services of general interest, for those detained for committing minor crimes. The European Union backs this project by funding the construction of 81 new prisons, in conformity with international standards. Funds will also be disbursed to help the social and economic reintegration of former prisoners in society.

The launching phase
Boudjemaa Ghachir, President of Algerian League of Human Rights, explains that the project is still in the launching phase, and its concrete results are not due to appear yet. He adds that the selection of the administrative board, composed of Algerian and European members, has just been completed, and the construction of 81 new prisons has been assigned to a French company.

In order to get to know better the European experience in this field, an Algerian delegation visited the prison of Barcelona, in Spain. However, according to Ghachir, the problem in Algeria resides also in the legal and judicial staff, which needs to be trained and developed. “Justice, says Ghachir, is an indivisible entity.

The modernization of our detention houses should go hand in hand with the training of our judicial body, to prevent any judge from confining behind the bars any perpetrator of minimal crime, instead of assigning him social work or services of general interest, as is permitted by law”. Moreover, reform should also tackle the training of prison staff and the development of workshops and activities in prisons in an effort to humanize the prison system.

On the basis of article II of the association agreement between the European Union and south Mediterranean countries, the President of Algerian League of Human Rights stresses on the importance of “respecting democracy and human rights”. He goes on to say that the European Union should endeavor to impose the full respect of the stipulations of this article, since it is a binding contract between both parties. “However, this article was subject to a large debate between Javier Solana and us, after we asked them to implement the stipulation included in this article on both Israel and Tunisia. The answer was that this agreement with countries of the south of the Mediterranean was concluded to encourage dialogue and not to impose rules and regulations versus financial support”, explains Ghachir.

Judicial reform is a must
Some judges expressed to Al-Hayat that the European project in Algeria will help solve the old problem of overcrowded prisons and consecrate the principles of human rights. Algerian judges hoped too that “the European Union could support the independence of the judicial system in Algeria, as well as the training of judges.

Special emphasis should also be placed to put an end to systematic imprisonment sentences, when other alternatives could be more efficient for both the guilty and the society, especially that imprisonment did not prove to be efficient with minimal crimes.” Interviewed judges also stressed on the importance of supporting defense attorneys by educating and training them on the principles of human rights.

The same judicial sources indicated that, due to the geographical and historical proximity between Europe and Algeria, Europeans can play a major and effective role in the judicial reform of the country. The other factor that helps, according to the same sources, is that Algerian judges, attorneys and government officials are very much informed about the European laws and regulations: another asset that facilitates dialogue and exchange between both parties.

However, the question that intrigued the judicial sources the most is that of the 13 new prisons that were supposed to be ready by the end of the current year, according to the Minister of Justice statements, but are not built yet!... They concluded that the European Union, in the framework of “Justice I”, worked on improving the efficiency of Algerian judiciary officials by organizing training sessions and granting computers and information technology equipment to judges. Such grant, which totaled 15 million Euros, was of great benefit to the judicial body in the country. However, Algerian citizens, like any citizens around the globe, do not seek electronically typed judgments as much as they seek fair and just sentences. “The achievement of a superior quality service in the judicial body is exactly what we expect from the support of the European Union”, was the fundamental hope of interviewed judges.

N.B: Text translated from Arabic by Eurojar team