Naharnet - Jumblat: New Approach Needed in Addressing Prisons File in Lebanon - April 4, 2011

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the need to adopt a new approach in tackling the prisons file in Lebanon given the weekend's unrest in the Roumieh prison. He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine that new prisons should be constructed and the old ones should be renovated, noting that such matters "have never been a priority for any of the past governments despite our repeated demands that they be given the attention they deserve." "Prisoners need political, ethical, psychological, ideological, and religious rehabilitation to return them on the right path," he said. "They should not be treated as outcasts because that would only exacerbate their problems inside and outside the prison. The prisoners on the other hand should serve their punishment," he added. "For example, inmates accused on terrorism should undergo a rehabilitation process in ideological, religious, and psychological issues in order to prevent them from negatively affecting other inmates," the MP stressed. How can all this be achieved when the minimal elements of living conditions are not available at the prison cells? Jumblat asked.