"Prisoner Notebook" Mirrors Inmates' Perceptions of New Development Model

The General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) has devoted the fourth issue of its periodical “Prisoner notebook” to the perception of the new development model of Kingdom from the point of view of prisoners.

This new 135-page issue in Arabic and French reports the vision and contributions of a certain number of detainees on the subject of “Morocco of tomorrow”, an initiative which is part of the consultations launched by the Special Commission on the Development Model (CSMD) to gather the points of view of all segments of Moroccan society on the new development model.

In the editorial of this fourth issue, the Delegate General for Prison Administration and Reintegration and Director General of the periodical, Mohamed Salah Tamek, said that the DGAPR, as part of its contribution as a public institution, presented the current reality of prisons to the CSMD by documenting the challenges related to the daily management, and conveyed the perception of the future of penitentiaries regarding the management and material and human capacities, while respecting the human rights approach.

Tamek also noted that “within the framework of the broadening of the circle of consultations to reach the detainees as citizens enjoying all their rights, the representatives of the DGAPR and the CSMD agreed to ask for contributions in writing by the detainees”.

This process resulted in the receipt of 217 contributions from 215 detainees, including 207 contributions from public law detainees and 09 contributions from detainees incarcerated under the terrorism law, Tamek said, noting that the contributions were written in Arabic and French by prisoners.

The General Delegate informed that the CSMD reading committee, and after evaluating the contributions, has decided to select 33 contributions meeting the set criteria to be the subject of this special issue of “prisoner notebook”.

For his part, CSMD president Chakib Benmoussa wrote in his introductory remarks of this issue that the Commission has adopted an approach of listening to all citizens, regardless of their condition or situation.