VZCZCXRO4143
RR RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHMS #0119/01 0411127
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101127Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9253
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0044
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0304

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/PI, G/TIP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KCRM KWMN SMIG ELAB KMPI MU
SUBJECT: OMAN'S NEW CENTRAL PRISON AND DETENTION CENTER 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Emboffs recently visited the Royal Oman 
Police's (ROP) new central prison and detention complex in 
the state of Samayl, located in Oman's interior.  While most 
of the complex is still under construction, emboffs received 
a tour of the completed detention center for illegal workers. 
 The center appeared clean and well run.  Post will encourage 
the ROP to institute procedures to screen the detainee 
population for victims of trafficking in persons (TIP).  End 
Summary. 
 
- - - - - - 
The Prison 
- - - - - - 
 
¶2. (SBU) On January 30, poloff and ARSO visited the site of 
the ROP's new penal complex in Samayl, located approximately 
80 kilometers inland from Muscat.  Major sections of the 
complex still are under construction, but once complete, the 
complex will hold Oman's central prison and a detention 
center for illegal foreign workers.  The facility's director, 
ROP Colonel Humaid al-Khanbashi, briefed emboffs on the 
features of the site's future prison.  According to 
Khanbashi, the compound will cover 600,000 square meters with 
a capacity to hold more than 3,000 inmates.  Men, women and 
juveniles up to age 20 will be held in separate facilities of 
2,200, 600, and 300 beds, respectively.  Individual cells 
will vary in size, he said, but the largest is designed to 
hold a maximum of seven inmates.  There will be a health 
clinic in each facility, and a hospital in the middle of the 
compound. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Khanbashi stated that the ROP designed the prison 
with a focus on prisoner rehabilitation.  The compound will 
include two farm plots and several exercise areas.  Each 
inmate facility will have a library, classrooms and a lecture 
hall.  In addition, the ROP has an agreement with the 
Ministry of Education (MOE) to help inmates finish their 
secondary education and MOE proctors will conduct the 
secondary school completion exam on-site.  The primary 
mission of the prison is not to punish, but to prepare 
inmates to reenter society, Khanbashi said, as the inmates 
have "suffered their greatest punishment already" by bringing 
shame to their extended family and tribal communities.  He 
anticipated that the prison population likely will not exceed 
more than 50% of total capacity any time in the near future. 
The new facility and low population gives the ROP an 
opportunity to focus on rehabilitation.  "Now is our chance," 
he said, "while we have the resources and the time." 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
The Detention Center 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although prison construction will not be complete 
before the end of 2008 at the earliest, the ROP already is 
beginning to move prisoners into temporary quarters in the 
complex's detention center for illegal workers.  The ROP 
closed its aging prison in Rumais in December 2007, for 
example, and transferred approximately 1,000 inmates to 
Samayl.  At the time of emboffs' visit, the detention center 
was filled to nearly half of its 2,000-bed capacity, with the 
inmates from the Rumais prison separated into cell blocks 
according to gender, age and length/type of sentence.  142 
foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh and Pakistan, also 
were in the center that day.  Khanbashi reminded emboffs that 
once the prison is complete, the ROP will move all of the 
convicted prisoners to that compound, leaving the detention 
center as a dedicated space for holding illegal foreign 
workers. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Khanbashi took emboffs inside one of the detainee 
cell blocks as they toured the compound.  The separate cell 
units, each with the capacity to hold approximately 30-40 
detainees, appeared clean but sparsely furnished.  In one 
cell, bedrolls for each detainee lay side by side at 
intervals on the concrete floor.  Detainees remain in the 
detention center from a few days to several months, depending 
in large part on how quickly the government of Oman and the 
workers' respective embassies can arrange for their 
deportation.  Many show up at the detention center without 
any form of identification from their country of origin, 
Khanbashi stated, and it often takes time for the relevant 
embassies to confirm nationality. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
No Screening for TIP 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
 
MUSCAT 00000119  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Poloff asked Khanbashi if he screens detainees to 
determine if any could be victims of trafficking in persons 
(TIP).  "We are the last stop before deportation," he said, 
and confirmed that his officers are not instructed to conduct 
a thorough intake interview.  He explained that the ROP 
captured most of the Samayl detainees during periodic sweeps 
targeting illegal workers.  Before the ROP transfers them to 
the detention center from holding cells in local police 
stations, the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Directorate of 
Labor Care reviews each worker's case to determine his or her 
labor status.  The MOM is thus responsible for determining if 
the workers are victims of a crime, Khanbashi stated. 
However, detainees do have the right at any time to lodge a 
complaint or volunteer information about their case, which 
the ROP would relay directly to the MOM. 
 
- - - - 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶7. (SBU) Based on Khanbashi's presentation, it appears that 
the ROP is building a modern facility that should be more 
than adequate to handle Oman's present and future inmate 
population.  Khanbashi indicated that he would welcome USG 
support to improve the facility and expressed his interest in 
visiting a U.S. prison.  One area for assistance could be in 
helping the ROP to institute a screening mechanism for TIP at 
the detention center (in addition to earlier in the detention 
process), and in training its officers in how to handle TIP 
victims.  Post will discuss this idea with Omani officials 
and inform the Department if there is interest in USG 
assistance to institute such measures. 
GRAPPO