BEIRUT: Security forces in Lebanon have foiled an attempt to use a drone to smuggle drugs into the central Roumieh Prison.
The administration of the largest prison in Lebanon spotted the drone hovering over the convicts’ ward several days ago. The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces said that a transparent bag containing drugs and a cell phone had been taped to the drone.
After the drone was seized, it was found to contain 74 narcotic pills, a white substance, a cell phone containing a SIM card, a USB flash drive and a pair of earbuds, the ISF said.
Many attempts have been made to smuggle prohibited substances into Lebanese prisons, especially Roumieh. A week ago, the mother of an inmate was caught trying to smuggle narcotic pills into the facility she had hidden inside her body, the ISF said.
Lawyer Rabih Qais, who is familiar with prison affairs, told Arab News: “There are constant attempts to smuggle prohibited substances into prisons, and the means are always changing.
“Organized crime prevails in prisons, like all prisons in the world. In Roumieh, there are gangs that sell drugs inside the prison and those include the most dangerous criminals.”
Qais added: “Prison security guards are doing their best to thwart attempts to smuggle contraband into Roumieh, although they work under extremely difficult conditions and their salaries have become worthless.”
Lebanese prisons are overcrowded with inmates facing charges of murder, drug use and trafficking, and theft.
Prison overcrowding in Lebanon now exceeds 380 percent. About 80 percent of the prison population is being held without trial. Due to the overcrowding, new detainees are often kept in police stations that fail to meet prison standards.
A judicial source told Arab News that there are no beds for detainees in police stations, and that no food or medical care are provided.
“About 45 percent of inmates and detainees are of Syrian nationality,” the source added.
There are more than 9,000 prisoners in Lebanon, distributed across 25 prisons and 229 police stations.
Roumieh, which was built in 1972 to accommodate 1,200 prisoners, now houses more than 4,000 inmates.
Some cells designed to hold up to five inmates are housing more than 10 people, who take turns to sleep because of the lack of room, some released prisoners have reported.
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, a former judge, said in January that the country’s economic crisis is affecting the ability of authorities to employ security guards around the clock in prisons, as well as maintain consistent power and food supplies, and medical care.
“We have to secure all these things for the prisons, so we cannot allow the electricity to go out or food to run out. The Ministry of Interior bears this burden although it is not its duty to secure such needs,” Mawlawi said.
In mid-March, food vendors said that they would stop delivering to prisons from April 4 in protest against the prisons’ failure to make up for price differences resulting from currency depreciation.
The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance rushed to address the emerging crisis in late March, as the head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, MP Michel Moussa, announced the taking of “several treasury advances to secure dues for companies that provide foodstuffs to prisons.”
Meanwhile, a seven-month strike by judges over wage deflation has undermined hopes of alleviating overcrowding in prisons.
Human rights associations have reported “the most horrific forms of neglect and grievance.”
Worsening conditions have led to the death of 33 inmates in the past year alone, while serious illnesses including cholera are rife across the prison system.
Recent video footage leaked from inside Roumieh showed a number of inmates threatening the judiciary with mass suicide, demanding that they be tried.
The inmates denounced the “injustice” of Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat’s decision to release those involved in the Beirut port explosion in 2020, while others have been detained for years without trial.
Nader Gaspar, head of the Beirut Bar Association, complained about “the lack of personnel in charge of guarding prisons, at a time when security personnel are assigned to guard political figures.”
