VZCZCXRO7266
PP RUEHMRE RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAS #0104/01 0281820
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281820Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6961
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 2668
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7526
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO PRIORITY 0845
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 9171
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 3027
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY PRIORITY 1826
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 6637
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 3634
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE PRIORITY 1705

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000104 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, ECA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SCUL KPAO AG
SUBJECT: SPORTS DIPLOMACY IN ALGERIAN PRISONS: AN IV 
SUCCESS STORY 
 
¶1. (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Ideas gained through the International 
Visitor (IV) Program are contributing tangibly to Algerian 
efforts to reduce violence and combat radicalization within 
the prison system, through sports diplomacy in particular. 
Some of Algiers' most notorious prisons have been organizing 
soccer matches with the cooperation of a local NGO, Ouled El 
Houma.   When Director General of Prisons Mokhtar Felioune 
gave a press conference on January 26 to highlight a new 
sports program for prisoners aimed at reducing prison 
violence, Ouled El Houma president Abderrahmane Bergui gave a 
presentation on the project and noted that his idea to engage 
prisoners in sports activities was based on his experience as 
a State Department International Visitor (IV) program 
participant.  Felioune told the press that the program was 
unique for Algeria and "greatly contributed to a decrease in 
violence and a new vision for prison life."  While our past 
efforts to engage Algeria on prison reform have met with 
limited success, a single-country IV program on prisoner 
counter-radicalization and subsequent reintegration could 
mesh well with current Algerian Justice Ministry priorities. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)   Prison reform remains a priority for Algeria's 
Ministry of Justice, whose officials seem willing to embrace 
new ideas from international sources to address systemic 
problems in Algeria's prisons.  Together with local NGO Ouled 
El Houma, the Ministry of Justice has piloted a program that 
uses sports as a way to reduce violence in prisons and help 
rehabilitate prisoners.  Ouled El Houma is an Algerian 
association that has experience working with at-risk youth 
through various sports programs.  The NGO's president, 
Abderrahmane Bergui, said he thought his organization's 
experience might be applicable in prisons and offered his 
services to the Ministry of Justice and adapt his youth 
programs for prisoners. 
 
THE LONGEST YARD 
---------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The result of this collaboration has been a series 
of soccer matches between prisoners held at some of Algeria's 
most notorious prisons, including Serkadj prison, the oldest 
jail in Algiers, and  El Harrach, widely considered the 
toughest prison in Algiers.  Speaking at the press 
conference, Bergui gave a video presentation of the project 
and admitted that the idea was not his own, but rather, one 
that he observed when he was a participant in a State 
Department IV program.  Bergui called the visit "one of the 
most enriching experiences of his life."  As he explained how 
he came to the idea of applying what he learned in the U.S., 
Bergui asked the audience of reporters and others, "if it 
worked in a prison in Santa Fe, why couldn't it work in 
Algiers?" 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Prisons Director General Felioune cited the Ouled 
El Houma project as one example of Algeria's effort to 
implement prison reform and reiterated the Ministry of 
Justice commitment to ensuring reform efforts succeed. 
Felioune said battling recidivism and helping prisoners 
reintegrate into society were key concerns at the top of his 
reform agenda, adding that these issues were also priorities 
for President Bouteflika.  Felioune said that 20,000 
prisoners are enrolled in preparatory courses to pass the 
high school equivalency exam (BAC) or the middle school 
equivalency exam (BEF).  Another 14,000 prisoners, Felioune 
added, take advantage of vocational training to learn 
masonry, carpentry and plumbing trades.  Finding employment 
remains one of the most difficult challenges for ex-cons, 
especially among those who have spent more than five years in 
prison.  Although recidivism is slightly less among those who 
have served less than three-year sentences, a musical 
performer affiliated with Ouled El Houma who works with 
prisoners said the best that most prisoners can hope for in 
terms of employment after release is to work as a security 
guard for a private company. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
 
ALGIERS 00000104  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Prison reform is a priority for Algeria and an 
area in which we have tried to engage the government in the 
past, albeit with limited success.  Algeria, however, is 
engaged with other foreign missions on prison reform, and 
prison officials toured both French and British prisons in 
2008 as part of the country's plan to build 88 new prisons. 
The European Union is implementing a 17 million euro program 
to modernize Algeria's prison infrastructure, and the British 
government provides expertise on prisoner management, 
overcrowding and improving prison conditions in general. 
UNDP is also engaged on the issue, helping to improve the 
Ministry of Justice's information management system, which 
includes prisons.  The Ouled El Houma project highlights an 
opening to use resources such as a single-country IV program 
to further develop prison counter-radicalization activities 
that also focus on re-integrating convicts into society. 
PEARCE