Roumieh prison, Lebanon's largest, in Metn. (Credit: Marwan Assaf)
Lebanon’s prisons and detention centers currently hold 8,402 inmates, with nearly half (48 percent) foreigners, mostly Syrians (2,572) and Palestinians (563).
A staggering 83 percent of these detainees have yet to face trial, exacerbating the overcrowding issue beyond the complications of foreign crime. These figures are drawn from the Beirut Bar Association’s Prison Committee statistics, headed by Joseph Eid, under the supervision of Bar President Fadi Masri, and in collaboration with the Interior Ministry and the Internal Security Forces (ISF).
The bar association’s findings, released on Aug. 28, resulted from “six months of intensive work,” according to Eid, whose team of 80 lawyers visited most of Lebanon’s 24 prisons and 229 detention centers.
“We conducted on-site investigations, comparing records from courthouses with the actual number of inmates,” Eid told L’Orient-Le Jour.
Occupancy rate: 360 percent
Roumieh Prison, Lebanon’s largest facility with a capacity of 1,050 inmates, is severely overcrowded. The committee’s report revealed that 3,619 prisoners are currently held there, pushing the occupancy rate to 360 percent, up from 250 percent five years ago, Eid said.
“At Roumieh, 2,850 inmates have not been tried,” Eid pointed out, adding that only 99 out of 809 prisoners at Qobbeh Prison in Tripoli have been sentenced.
Zahle faces similar conditions as just 67 of 686 detainees have had their cases heard. In Baalbek in the Bekaa and Jezzine in the south, 95 out of 102 and 115 out of 133 inmates, respectively, are still awaiting trial. The women’s prison in Baabda houses only 10 sentenced prisoners, while 92 await judgment. At Barbar al-Khazen barracks in Beirut’s Verdun neighborhood and Jbeil Prison, 55 out of 60 and 41 out of 46 prisoners, respectively, are also awaiting verdicts. None of the 21 detainees in Douma Prison in northern Lebanon have been tried.
Eid attributed these alarming statistics to “the sluggish pace of justice.” He urged judges to continue their work despite their low salaries, and called for the resolution of around 1,000 pending release requests. “Rather than detaining minor offenders, judges could impose travel bans or require bail payments,” Eid suggested.
Vehicle breakdowns and hearing delays
In addition to judicial delays, Eid cited other reasons for slow proceedings, such as postponed hearings due to frequent breakdowns of prisoner transport vans or fuel shortages. He mentioned that “with no state budget, the Beirut Bar Association is seeking assistance from international organizations for vehicle repairs and maintenance.” Despite repairs by the ISF, many vehicles remain out of service, Eid said.
These issues, among others, are regularly discussed between the ISF and the Beirut Bar Association, a security source told L’Orient-Le Jour. During visits to prisons, association representatives identified challenges and sought solutions to reduce overcrowding, the source added.
Bar President Fadi Masri pointed to another cause of overcrowding: Many inmates are unable to pay fines imposed alongside their prison sentences.
“Even after serving their time, many prisoners cannot be released due to their inability to pay compensation ordered by judges,” Masri explained. He recalled that in December 2019, under then-Bar President Melhem Khalaf, the bar association covered fines under 1 million Lebanese lira for many convicts, just as the national currency began to collapse — a measure “difficult” to repeat under current economic conditions.
Eid warned that overcrowded prisons are a “ticking time bomb,” with poor detention conditions having “disastrous” health consequences.
“Currently, only two doctors are available to provide care in prisons, down from seven, due to salaries being paid in Lebanese pounds,” he said. Beyond health risks, overcrowding “hampers, if not prevents, rehabilitation, social reintegration and recidivism prevention,” Eid added.
Eid concluded by announcing that an “emergency judicial plan” would soon be implemented, aiming to increase the number of judges and extend legal aid to defendants in need, among other measures.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour and translated by Sahar Ghoussoub.
