Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — There are 46,407 prisoners in Saudi jails, according to an official report published on Sunday. The report said 51 percent of the prisoners are foreigners of various nationalities. The Saudi prisoners number 22,659, Al-Hayat newspaper said quoting the report. The report said the number of prisoners involved in traffic and civil rights cases is 915. Some 1,400 prisoners, representing 5.4 percent of the total, are serving time for alcohol-related charges. There are 3,851 female prisoners, 175 of them Saudi, the report noted. Riyadh has the largest number of prisoners with 11,982, representing 25 percent of the total number of inmates in the Kingdom. Of this number, 5,901 prisoners have not stood trial yet while 6,081 have been handed various prison sentences. Jeddah came second with 9,545 prisoners while Al-Baha and Al-Jouf regions have the lowest incarceration rate. There are 403 prisoners in Al-Baha and 423 in Al-Jouf. There are 22,484 Saudi male inmates compared with 20,072 expatriate inmates, according to the report. Most of the non-Saudi prisoners are involved in drug cases with Jeddah housing the largest number of foreign prisoners at 3,888 followed by Riyadh at 3,106. Al-Baha has the lowest number of non-Saudi prisoners at 14. The total number of Saudi and non-Saudi prisoners sentenced in drugs-related cases is 7,421. The report also said that 4,287 Saudi and 4,349 non-Saudi prisoners were involved in robbery cases. There are 2,283 Saudis incarcerated for murder and assault, and the number of non-Saudis jailed for similar charges is 1,368. The report indicated that the number of bribery and forgery cases has increased. It said 3,166 of such cases involved non-Saudis while the number of Saudis convicted or accused of such charges is just 735. The number of non-Saudi female prisoners involved in bribery cases has risen to 1,121.
