Prison Administration, All Penitentiary Facilities Deal with Lawyers' Representative Bodies Within Framework of Law

The General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) said on Wednesday that, like all penitentiary institutions, it deals with the representative bodies of lawyers throughout the Kingdom in accordance with the law and within the framework of cooperation and mutual trust.

In a statement in response to a “Solidarity Statement” with a lawyer issued on Tuesday by the Union of Moroccan Lawyers, the DGAPR informs that the attorney in question had made dangerous accusations against the administration of the Nador 2 local prison claiming that an inmate “was subjected to degrading treatment”.

The attorney in question knows perfectly well, by his profession, that such practices engage the criminal responsibility of their perpetrators, it pointed out. 

The lawyer knowingly planned to mislead public opinion by making people believe that such treatment is commonplace in prison facilities, even though the Department of Prison Administration has broken with these practices long ago as evidenced in reports from various national bodies and institutions. 

The DGAPR is working with its institutional and associative partners to disseminate the culture of human rights among its civil servants, with a view to further preserving the dignity of prisoners and treating them in accordance with the law, the statement added, according to the same source.

The administration of the Nador 2 local prison, which did not violate by any means the lawyer’s right to contact and communicate with his client, has decided to prosecute the attorney on account of the serious accusations he made without even investigating or interacting with the prison administration it on this matter.

This isolated case will not dissuade the DGAPR and all the prison establishments from continuing their cooperation with all the representative bodies of lawyers within a framework of mutual trust, the concluded.