Bahrain Mirror: A Major-General in Bahrain's Ministry of Interior Mariam Al-Bardooli stated that there are currently 135 prisoners in the Corrections and Rehabilitation Center (women's prison).

She said in a report presented in a roundtable organized by the "Center of Excellence to Support Women's Issues" on Saturday, and published by Al-Bilad newspaper, which is owned by the Prime Minister, that there are 18 Bahraini female inmates and 117 foreign female prisoners, including 3 children and an infant.

She further stated that the cases of prostitution are among the most frequent cases at the Center. Its penalty ranges between 6 months and 5 years.

Al-Bardooli pointed out that the Bahraini prisoners are the most disciplined. The majority of the inmates hold the Thai and Indian citizenships.

She also noted the issuance of an executive regulation in the new Imprisonment Act last August, which provides the married (male or female) inmate the right to a private visit.

Also, Al-Bardooli said that they cooperated with the Ministry of Justice and Islamic affairs to provide Quran memorization lessons for muslim inmates, adding that 15 inmates at the Center converted to Islam.

She further stressed that the prisoner has the right to a 30-minute phone call once a week, while the detainee has the right to only 4 minutes.

The inmate has the right to purchase the phone call cards from the Public Security shops with her personal money.

Tags: Detainees, Bahrain Children

Arabic Issue