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Join on Telegram Rabat – The General Directorate for the Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) has assessed its 2020 achievements in its annual report, including in field of human rights.
The DGAPR emphasized that its forces focused on human rights by launching a training program, as well as in the prevention against torture.
According to the report, the program covers 13 sessions benefiting 85 prison officials.
The delegation postponed the program to 2021, aiming to generalize the project among all surveillance and security staff, as well as prison officials across Morocco.
The annual report also emphasized DGAPR’s decision to strengthen efforts to ensure security and safety in prisons by improving equipment.
DGAPR announced that in 2020 it equipped institutions with electronic surveillance systems to oversee all movement within the facilities.
Equipping the prisons seeks to stop the introduction of banned items, and to monitor sensitive and difficult to access areas by documenting events taking place. Also to determine what is needed to help the delegation intervene in case of emergencies.
According to DGAPR data, the delegation equipped 29 prisons with advanced digital camera surveillance systems, which are connected to a central surveillance room.
The delegation also equipped 33 other institutions with video surveillance systems. Six establishments witnessed the strengthening of their surveillance systems by the replacement of cameras and monitoring devices.
DGAPR also announced the development of a guide to manage dangerous detainees. The guide was intended for all employees of penal institutions, especially those who are in daily contact with inmates in the most dangerous categories.
The guide seeks to give procedures for prison officials to manage such detainees in accordance with international standards.
In October 2020, a jailed terrorist linked to a dismantled ISIS terror cell, murdered a prison employee in the local prison of Tiflet, a city near Rabat.
The ISIS affiliate injured three other officers when they tried to intervene, according to the same source.
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The DGAPR has faith that such measures will have a “very positive evolution and security indicators.”
Sharing data, the report said that the number of contraventions that the Public Prosecutor’s Office received last year declined from 14, 431 cases in 2019 to 13, 356 cases in 2020.
The number represents a decline of 7.64%.
During the same period, prisons witnessed a decline in the number of drugs seized, estimated at 39%.
According to the delegation, the number of drug seizures decreased from 1, 269 cases to 773 between 2019 and 2020.
The equipment also helped prison staff to seize cell phones.
To date, the number of seized cell phones moved from 859 to 218, representing a decline of 74.59%. The number of cases of cash money seized also declined from 548 to 213.
DGAPR also announced a decline in the number of seizures of illicit products at food baskets that families usually send to their relatives in prisons.
