About 16 women were allegedly involved in a brawl at a Makkah correctional facility for women, forcing the police to intervene. Informed sources said the brawl started with a quarrel between a resident in her twenties and another pregnant woman. Other inmates then got involved and it developed into a fight between two groups. The sources said that women supervisors were forced to close the ward and call in police to control the situation. This is the same facility that is still the subject of a major investigation into the causes of a riot in January by women inmates over alleged poor living conditions and ill-treatment. In the latest incident, Makkah police had to intervene in the brawl on Sunday morning. The facility has a total of 43 inmates. Police patrols rushed to the scene, controlled the situation and started preliminary investigations. Clothes torn, hair pulled Sources at the correctional facility said the fight started between a 20-year-old female and a pregnant fellow inmate. They were apparently arguing over why they had been placed in the facility. A confrontation ensued in which 14 other female inmates joined in. They divided into two groups and allegedly fought each another with their fists, tore each other's clothes and pulled each other's hair. According to the sources, at this point four female supervisors present there shut the brawling women in the ward and called the security authorities to deal with the situation. The sources said that the police referred six women to the hospital to get medical reports on their injuries. Also, their testimonies were taken in preparation for referring the case dossier to the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution (CIP). Six summoned Maj. Abdulmohsin Al-Maiman, spokesman of the Makkah Police, said the police received a report about the fight and sent several teams to the scene to deal with the incident. Six women “who were the cause of the brawl” were summoned and their cases referred to the CIP. The investigation into January's riot over poor living conditions, launched by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, is still under way. Prince Khaled had formed a quartet committee, which is chaired by the region's governorate and includes the police, the CIP and Ministry of Social Affairs. The committee started its investigations about 45 days ago and will continue its probe for another 14 days. The quartet committee has so far questioned 32 women including female inmates, supervisors and social workers. The committee has also visited some of the regions to investigate some of the women who were transferred from the Makkah facility. The committee has also investigated the female director of the facility and the supervisor of the women's section in the region. Poor conditions The riot in January was sparked by poor living conditions. The women claimed that they were often beaten up by the female guards, were not given proper food, lived in unhygienic circumstances and had to endure solitary confinement. They said that most of them suffered from psychiatric illnesses and were under treatment at psychiatric clinics in Makkah. Others were under observation because of the alleged maltreatment. The female inmates said that they were happy that the riot took place because it revealed what was hidden from the media and society. Their plight was confirmed by both the National Society for Human Rights and the CIP. During the investigation, the Social Affairs Ministry came under fire for allegedly trying to cover up the problems at the home. It was discovered that a number of inmates were transferred from the home to other facilities before they could be questioned. Presence of Jinn In its own investigation, and revealed in its report at the end of January, the Social Affairs Ministry made some startling claims. The report, which was signed by Dr. Yusuf Al-Othaimeen, Minister of Social Affairs, and prepared by five technical administrations of the ministry, claimed that two women, who were involved in inciting the riot, had seen Jinn in one of the corridors of the home. In turn, six other girls had also been drawn into the whole incident, the report claimed. The report contains 14 recommendations and observations presented by the ministerial investigating team on how to tackle problems at the home. The report stated that there were 61 women inmates at the facility, with convictions ranging from murder, carrying a weapon, escape, kidnapping, shooting, adultery, becoming pregnant illegitimately and stealing.
