JEDDAH, Sep 11 ( Arab News): Some prisoners in Jeddah, particularly those locked in for failure to pay personal debts, were granted the opportunity to spend Eid Al-Fitr with their families thanks to efforts of the Committee to Care for the Prisoners and Their Families, committee head Suhail bin Hashim Sawwan told Arab News Friday.

Sawwan recalled one case where a charity group offered to pay the personal debt of a prisoner only to have the lender scoff. “They are not better than me,” Sawwan quoted the lender as saying before he waved the debt.

Sawwan said the committee also bought new headdresses to prisoners in Jeddah and gave them money to buy new clothes in keeping with the Eid tradition.  He said the committee also paid money to the families of the prisoners to buy clothes for their children.

Sawwan said the women members of the committee paid visits to women prisoners during the last 10 days of Ramadan and gave them clothes as well.

“We will soon give all the prisoners a variety of gift items which we bought for them,” he added.

Sawwan praised the help Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, director of Jeddah prisons, gave to the committee. “He provided us with lists containing the names of prisoners who were in need of help from the committee,” he added.

Sawwan revealed that all 15 committees to care for the affairs of the prisoners and their families will meet in Jeddah during the coming two months to discuss ways of coordinating their efforts.

He said the chairman of the Jeddah committee, Abdullah bin Marie, will present a number of proposals aimed at creating a mechanism which all the committees will follow.

“There should not be personal discretion in dealing with the courts, prisoners and other government departments,” he said.