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Join on Telegram Rabat – A new Moroccan report highlights how certain justice policies block reform efforts and negatively impact life in prisons.
The Center for Human Rights and Democracy Studies (CEDHD) held a symposium on Wednesday, March 16, to present a report about the situation of prisons in Morocco between 2016 and 2020. The report was produced in partnership with the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) and the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF).
The report touched on lingering challenges related to Moroccan criminal justice policies, their negative impact on prison life, and the imbalances that do not allow for improvement and reforms within prisons.
The report highlighted the issues related to pretrial detention in Morocco, stating that pretrial detainees amounted to 39% of people held in local prisons in Morocco in 2019 and 45% in 2020.
The report calls into question the decisions of the Moroccan judicial system in issuing pretrial detention instead of looking into alternative approaches. With pretrial detainees making up an average of 40% of the total prison population between 2015 and 2019, pretrial detention, which is supposed to be an exception, has become a general rule in Morocco, stated the report.
The report stressed that pretrial detention has far-reaching negative consequences and leads to worse outcomes for pretrial detainees and their families, added the report.
Pretrial detention may harm the detainees’ housing and employment status, cause physical and psychological damage that lasts long after their detention ends, and increases their likelihood of being convicted on new charges, added the report.
The same source highlighted that pretrial detention violates the “principle of justice” and prolongs the period of doubt concerning a crime.
In addition, pretrial detention centers lack the means to organize activities and visitation arrangements. As a result, detainees have no contact with the outside world and are not prepared to rejoin normal life upon release.
The problem does not lie in extending the duration of sanctions, the report added, but in the predominance of resorting to short-term sanctions.
Two-thirds of detainees received sentences of less than two years in 2019.
The report additionally stressed the need to avoid “short” and “very short” sentences, stating that once a prison sentence exceeds a few weeks, the detainees are likely to lose work, housing, and social services, exposing their families to difficult situations.
In addition, short sentences prevent prisoners from benefiting from reintegration programs, since their entire focus is on the resolution of their cases and their final sentences, stated the DGAPR.
The report called for the decriminalization of some acts by including them within administrative or civil penalties without a prison sentence or a criminal record.
The measures presented in the report aim to prevent innocent people from being imprisoned before they have been judged, and keep people out of Morocco’s overcrowded prisons for smaller offenses.
