The most serious issues raised by the Tamek Prison Representative in Parliament: prison overcrowding, alternative sentencing, and drug smuggling via drones

#WeLoveYouMorocco ​#MoroccanPrisons #PrisonOvercrowding #Mohamed_Saleh_Al-Tamek #AlternativeSentences #CriminalCode #Morocco #PrisonSecurity

Mohamed Saleh Tamek, General Delegate of the Prison Administration and Reintegration, sounded the alarm once again regarding the worsening problem of overcrowding in prisons, warning that authorities may be forced to refuse new inmates in the near future if the situation continues as it is.

During a discussion of the budget bill in the House of Representatives, Tamek explained that alternative sentences have not had the desired effect in alleviating overcrowding due to their limited implementation by the judiciary. He noted that stopgap measures and the construction of new prisons are no longer sufficient, which necessitates periodically resorting to royal pardons as a preemptive measure to relieve prisons that have exceeded their capacity many times over, such as the Ain al-Sabe’ “Okasha” Prison.

​On another note, the Commissioner General revealed the emergence of serious threats in the form of attempts to smuggle drugs into prisons via small drones, confirming that one such attempt was thwarted thanks to the vigilance of staff. He also addressed the issue of “drug barons” within correctional facilities, a situation that requires special security measures and isolation, in addition to discussing the implications of the legal change to the definition of “pretrial detainee” and its impact on the reported figures within prisons.