Morocco Tops Global Pre-Trial Detention Rates, Fueling Prison Overcrowding Crisis

In its report, the Parliamentary Information Commission on the Situation of Prisons listed the findings from its visit to three penitentiary institutions. It first found that Morocco has the highest rate in the world in terms of pre-trial detention, and that the detainees are mostly either acquitted or sentenced to suspended prison sentences, reports Al Massae.

This situation has also led to prison overcrowding of more than 50%, according to the report. According to the Delegate General for Prison Administration, the problem of overcrowding in prisons will remain an endemic crisis unless alternative sanctions to imprisonment are chosen.

Based on these findings, the information commission recommends the adoption of a criminal policy based on restricting the conditions for judicial prosecution under arrest, prosecution under arrest as the exception and prosecution under freedom as the rule. It also proposes to accelerate the adoption of alternative sanctions as a mechanism capable of contributing to ending overcrowding in prisons.

The commission also calls for an increase in the number of prison guards, whose salaries do not correspond to the volume of work and the risks involved.