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Lebanon

Capital city — Beirut

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Panorama

Overview

Prison population

Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabitants)

141

i
10/2023
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

The authorities publish official statistics on prison population

regularly

The number of prisoners is regularly updated on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

The prison service has a computerised record keeping system

yes

The prison administration uses a prison management software called Bassem. This software allows records to be kept on each prisoner from admission to release. The records include the following information:

  • the name of the person admitted to prison
  • the date of entry into prison
  • reasons for imprisonment
  • the date of appearance in court
  • the date of release from prison1

Roumieh Prison is implementing a pilot project on data management systems. This project is part of the technical assistance programme provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to the Ministry of Justice. It includes the creation of specialised software that allows the Ministry of Justice to access individual files directly. These are created upon admission of the prisoner and filled by social workers throughout the prisoner’s incarceration. Each file contains information on the number of visits received, rehabilitation programmes, the prisoner’s behaviour, the duration of pre-trial detention, the type of offence, etc.2

  1. UN Committee against Torture, “Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under Article 19 of the Convention, Initial reports of States Parties due in 2001”, 14 April 2016, § 319 p. 63. ↩

  2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Handbook on strategies to reduce overcrowding in prisons”, 2016, p. 73. ↩

Total number of prisoners

9,254

i
10/2023
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

Variation in the number of prisoners

decrease

The Lebanese prison population reached a high of 9,000 in 2018. It has since decreased and is expected to stabilise at around 6,600 in 2022.

Variation in the incarceration rate

decrease

The incarceration rate decreased from 131 in 2018 to 98 in 2020.

Prison density

194.4 %

i
10/2023
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

In August 2023, Roumieh prison, designed to accommodate 1,200 prisoners, held 4,000.

Overcrowding is an issue for specific types of prison facilities

yes

Roumieh Prison is the most overcrowded in Lebanon. According to the ministry of justice, its official capacity is 1,000 people. In 2022, there were 3,460 prisoners1.

Qobbeh Prison is particularly affected by overcrowding due to the length of pre-trial proceedings. The prison has a capacity of 320, but the number of prisoners has sometimes reached over 1,000. In July 2022, the number of prisoners at Qobbeh was estimated at 838, including 67 women. 88% of them are in remand detention.

  1. Together against the Death Penalty, Carole Berrih and Karim El Mufti, “Living Without Being: Fact-Finding Mission, Lebanon“, 2020, p. 95. ↩

A supervisory body has issued a decision on prison overcrowding

yes

The UN Committee against Torture warned of the high levels of overcrowding in Lebanese prisons.1 It found that “excessive delays in the administration of justice, the high rate of pre-trial detention, and frequent transfers of detainees from Roumieh Central Prison to other facilities” have resulted in prison overcrowding.2

  1. United Nations Committee against Torture, “Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under Article 19 of the Convention, Initial reports of States Parties due in 2001“, 14 April 2016, § 432-434 p. 84. ↩

  2. UN Committee against Torture, “Annual session report, 51st and 52nd sessions“, 2013-2014, § 23 p. 288. ↩

Organisation

Name of authority in charge of the prison service

Ministry of Internal Affairs

A decree on 28 August 1964 transferred the responsibility for the administration of prisons to the Ministry of Justice (Decree No. 17315). This transfer is still ongoing and, according to observers, far from complete. NGOs and justice actors in the justice sector have repeatedly asked for this decree to be implemented, without success. On 7 March 2012, the Council of Ministers adopted the “National Strategy for the Transfer of Prison Service Powers to the Ministry of Justice”. This allowed for the creation of a Prison Department within the Ministry of Justice. The Department carries out unannounced visits to prisons and issues reports on their detention conditions. It presents said reports to the Minister of Justice and other relevant authorities 1. In practice, prisons are still governed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Internal Security Forces, Forces de sécurité intérieure - FSI). Some facilities and districts are controlled by the army. The Ministry of Defence can detain defendants and convicts under the jurisdiction of the military courts or the Council of Justice (Decree No. 6236). Such prisoners may also be placed in prisons under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

  1. United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT), “Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties under Article 19 of the Convention, Initial reports of States Parties due in 2001“, 14 April 2016, § 428 pp. 80. ↩

The prison service outsources the management of the facilities to private companies, either partially or fully

no

The FSIs (Lebanon Interior Security Forces) are responsible for managing ordinary prisons. Since 2012, the Ministry of Justice has had a Prison Service Department. It is responsible for:

  • managing prisoners’ court files, including those on prolonged pre-trial detention;
  • providing training sessions for police supervisors;
  • liaising between the authorities and civil society organisations;
  • arranging prison inspection visits.

The closed prison regime is the only one applicable.

Prison facilities

Prisons under the Ministry of Internal Affairs fall under two categories:

  • Central prisons in Beirut with two facilities: Roumieh Prison for men and Barbar Khazen Prison for women, in Verdun.
  • “District prisons”, affiliated with each constituency’s court of appeal1.

Four facilities are reserved for women (in Baabda, Tripoli, Zahlé, and Beirut). According to the Ministry of Justice, there are two facilities for minors: one for boys and one for girls. Roumieh Prison is the only facility that was designed to accommodate prisoners in the 1960s. The other detention facilities are merely floors within military barracks where bars have been installed to create cells. Within the same facility, building D is reserved for prisoners convicted for terrorism. There are also special-status prisons under the Ministry of Defence. They are managed by military intelligence services. Yarze Prison in Beirut is one such prison.2 There is no official record of how many of these prisons exist. In principle, they detain defendants and convicts from military courts or the Council of Justice. In practice, these persons may be held in prisons operated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There is little information available on the prisons under the Ministry of Defence. Access to them appears to be highly restricted.3

  1. RIZK Jessy, Faculty of Law and Political Science at Notre-Dame University-Louaize, “Lebanese Prison Conditions: Comparative Study with the French Regulations”, august 2020, pp. 8-9. ↩

  2. Lebanese Centre for Human Rights, “Prisons in Lebanon: Humanitarian and Legal Concerns”, 2010, p. 43. ↩

  3. Together against the Death Penalty, Carole Berrih and Karim El Mufti, “Living Without Being: Fact-Finding Mission, Lebanon“, 2020, pp. 90-91. ↩

Total number of prison facilities

25

i
2022
/ Ministry of Justice

Total official capacity of the prison facilities

4,760

i
10/2023
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

The size of the facilities varies significantly. Roumieh Prison is the largest facility in the country. It has a capacity of 1,000. It often accommodates over twice its capacity. The other prisons have a capacity of around 50–100 prisoners.

The prison population is concentrated in Roumieh Prison in Beirut. The other smaller prisons are scattered throughout the country.

Prison facilities are accessible by public transport

no

Public transport service is deemed inadequate across the country.

Staff

Number of prison guards (FTE)

-

The total number of prison guards has not been reported. Various observers consider the number insufficient.

The prison staff is represented by (a) union(s)

no

  • Doctors and medical personnel went on strike in February 2024 to protest low salaries.

    i
    16/02/2024
    / NOW Lebanon

The prison officers are members of the Internal Security Forces (FSI). They are not trained to discipline and control prisoners.1 Raja Abi Nader, Head of Prison Reform at the Ministry of Justice, deplored their lack of training: “Currently, a member of the security forces can be put in charge of road traffic one day and be transferred to Roumieh the next, to guard a facility with 1,400 prisoners, without any training”. In 2017, the Lebanese authorities stated that the Mandela rules are “systematically taught to security forces during training courses”. The Lebanese Centre for Human Rights (CLDH) believes that the lack of human and material resources is a source of frustration for prison staff. Training is provided by NGOs and institutions on prisoners’ rights and prison management. However, the high turnover of staff means that the skills acquired are not put into practice.2

  1. Together against the Death Penalty, Carole Berrih and Karim El Mufti, “Living Without Being: Fact-Finding Mission, Lebanon“, 2020, p. 90. ↩

  2. Lebanese Centre for Human Rights, “Prisons in Lebanon: Humanitarian and Legal Concerns”, 2010, p. 37. ↩