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DUBAI, July 31: No wonder prison officials call them ``guests.'' The white-collar criminals in Dubai's new prison will have everything they need to conduct business behind bars including a hotel-style conference centre complete with access to the Internet.
There is one hitch though their activities must be legitimate.
``Instead of destroying them, we will help them get back on their feet. This in turn will help their families and subsequently, the economy,'' said Brig. Abbas Ali, Chief of Prisons for this affluent emirate.
Construction begins in September on the multimillion-dollar facility for 2,000 ``guests''. Ali refused to call them inmates or prisoners. Replacing Dubai's main prison, the new jail also will provide room for 500 inmates convicted of violent crime.
Unlike many prisons in the West Asia, this one will have central air conditioning, a gym and a theatre. And because many of the convicts have legitimate businesses, a state-of-the-art business center is planned ``with everything you DUBAI, July 31: No wonder prison officials call them ``guests.'' The white-collar criminals in Dubai's new prison will have everything they need to conduct business behind bars including a hotel-style conference centre complete with access to the Internet.
There is one hitch though their activities must be legitimate.
``Instead of destroying them, we will help them get back on their feet. This in turn will help their families and subsequently, the economy,'' said Brig. Abbas Ali, Chief of Prisons for this affluent emirate.
Construction begins in September on the multimillion-dollar facility for 2,000 ``guests''. Ali refused to call them inmates or prisoners. Replacing Dubai's main prison, the new jail also will provide room for 500 inmates convicted of violent crime.
Unlike many prisons in the West Asia, this one will have central air conditioning, a gym and a theatre. And because many of the convicts have legitimate businesses, a state-of-the-art business center is planned ``with everything youmight see in an international company,'' Ali said. Along with fax machines, computers and telephones, prisoners will have access to the Internet.
``Everyone has certain rights. If you make one mistake, it doesn't mean you should be humiliated throughout your life,'' Ali said.
But while planners say the prison will operate on Islamic principles of respect for human rights regardless of a person's background, only those convicted of white-collar crimes and jailed for more than one year will be get the luxury treatment. Inmates serving time for violent crimes and stealing will remain in ordinary conditions in a separate section.
Dubai can afford to be generous with its criminals. There aren't that many.Strict laws keep down violent crime, leaving authorities to deal mostly with offenses such as fraud, embezzlement and debt default.
Most criminals are foreigners Indians, Pakistanis, other Arabs and citizens of former Soviet Republics, reflecting the population mix of Dubai, whose 100,000 natives depend onmore than 600,000 expatriate workers to run the economy. The new facility, a brainchild of Crown Prince Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, will be adjacent to the existing prison, which will be converted into a library, an auditorium and workshops.
In a region known for its harsh treatment of convicts, even the old prison is no dive. Up to six inmates share a cell about 10 feet by 13 feet (3 metre by 4 metre), sleeping on comfortable mattresses and eating meals of rice, meat, chicken, soup and vegetables.
Inmates are free to practice their religions and not forced to abide by Islamic regulations such as fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.Some prisoners interviewed said their only complaint was the ear-numbing noise of window air conditioners in their cells.
That will not be a problem in the new prison, which will have central air when it opens in 2000.
``I think the new prison will be excellent. It will help the prisoners to try and solve their problems,'' Hussein, a Pakistani convict said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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