The following as a story by Iyad El Baghdadi, a former inmate at a Dubai Prison.


"I was imprisoned in Al-Sadr prison in the UAE before my forced expulsion from the country. You can read .

In brief, Al-Sadr prison was the most racist place I had ever experienced in my life up to that moment.

Now note that I was held in a general holding cell block before being transferred to another cell block used for deportations. Both of these blocks are considered “temporary detention” , and as far as I know, that’s how the authorities get away with the massive institutionalized abuse that happens there.

There was a kind of “nationality hierarchy” in the prison - Arabs such as myself got less cramped cells, often could cut in line, sometimes got to eat in our cells (rather than in the courtyard), and even got some goodies such as cigarettes or lighters or phone calls (I’m not a smoker myself, but my cellmates were).

More importantly however, Arabs rarely got insulted or slapped or punched or spit on - which is kinda standard practice for Asians, especially Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.

In an ethnically mixed country such as the UAE, a brown guy like me can be confused for a Pakistani. I remember once in jail I had to make a clinic visit (I had pretty bad asthma), and I didn’t follow the marching instructions right and had a growling prison guard charge at me to hit me. When he heard me say something like “excuse me” or “sorry” in Arabic he stopped in his tracks, smiled, and said “You’re Arab? Why didn’t you tell me you’re Arab?”

Basically had I not been Arab I’d have been fair game.

I said Arabs “rarely” got beaten up - but it does happen. An Egyptian man who occupied the cell next to me once insulted a guard, and was quickly taken outside to the courtyard, chained to a pole, and “disciplined” (beaten by several guards before being returned to his cell).

Bangladeshis seem to be at the bottom of the hierarchy - routinely punched, slapped, kicked, spat on, and held in very cramped cells. I counted 47 men cramped in a cell intended to hold 10 people (10 beds). There were probably more, since some of them were out of sight round the corner.

I heard the prison guards and policemen share the expression “al binghal bighal” (البنغال بغال) - translates to “Bengalis are mules” - among each other.

The sound of slaps - of a human hand slapping a human face - rang regularly in the prison halls, especially when prisoners were being “processed” (brought in, or switched between blocks). Prison guards and policemen seem to be instructed not to show any kind of sympathy to the prisoners. Noticing that I don’t look like I belonged there, they only inquired about my story in hushed whispers in the corners of halls.

The kind of food you eat is so terrible that I went from 40 waist to a 34 waist in two weeks. I had to literally hold my pants up with my hands a lot of the time (you’re not allowed belts). I remember an elder Arab man pointing to the food and asking a younger Arab man: “If you were a dog, would you eat this food?”

(Interestingly, that elder Arab man had lived his entire life in the country, and didn’t know why he was in jail. There were “higher instructions” to expel him but no court case against him. When I entered prison, he was past his first year in that situation.)

You are allowed to buy food (there’s this kinda “canteen” cart that comes twice a day when the prisoners are out in the courtyard), but the food is overpriced and of terrible quality. The same canteen sold very cheap cigarettes and very expensive pants (which I bought, but they were of such poor quality that they ripped on the first day then I tried to, um, walk in them).

Hygiene is pretty bad and everyone stinks. We had to chase rats out of our cells on a couple occasions. You can shower of course, but the water pressure is very low (it’s just a trickle), plus it’s scalding hot during the day and very cold during the night (so you gotta make do). Bathroom situation was… terrible, and you’re not allowed anything to… clean yourself with.

Yet the UAE government propaganda is so strong that it almost amounts to gaslighting. I remember an elderly Egyptian cellmate who, even after living in these conditions for a few days, remarked “How can this be? UAE prisons are like hotel rooms! They’re like 5 star hotels!” It was a pathetic sight to witness a man almost lose his mind, not able to square what he’s been told all his life vs the reality he’s living. The man collapsed a couple days later and had to be carried off to the prison’s clinic.

There’s a lot more I can say - after my release from prison I was summarily expelled from my country, had nowhere to go and was stranded at an airport for a month. I ended up documenting my observations in a journal that ran 200+ pages. But suffice it to say that prison in the UAE was the most overtly and unapologetically racist place I had ever seen up to that point. Especially if you’re not an Arab.

Source; https://www.quora.com/What-is-prison-like-in-the-United-Arab-Emirates

Nawa

hush puppi dey Yankee ..free visa .. FBI things ... see big boi levels all round

Ok

Nothing pass freedom..

No matter how beautiful the prison might looks like. You don't wanna go down there..

Unfortunately majority of people's in prison are innocent..

Ki ori ma takun wa ooo. Ase....

Still better than naija

Pls help us keep hushpuppy there let them treat him like a pupy

Y do u have a prisoner mindset.... not all of us grew up in ghetto

BakedCake:
hush puppi dey Yankee ..free visa .. FBI things ... see big boi levels all round

BakedCake:
hush puppi dey Yankee ..free visa .. FBI things ... see big boi levels all round

Sho wa okay?

But

Still far better than Nigeria prison

Some zombies will still come here and say they prefer to be there than being in Nigeria. They are free to go there and commit any crime to get free Visa in there.
Poverty has re christened some people that they can't even think straight again.
Poverty and Ignorance are compatible bed mates!

punisha:



Sho wa okay?

that's what your senior sister asked me the last time I bent her over in the back seat of a taxi ... she was fun to be with ..

mo wa OK aburo!

excessmon:
Y do u have a prisoner mindset.... not all of us grew up in ghetto

ghetto dey form push... nah your type dey pay rent for kirikiri laslas village drunkard ! dey form posh ... haha well its allowed ..

When your freedom is seized,then you will know the difference between ghetto and being a good citizen.Nigeria prison got more than that

let Aja4 do his Time there or in Alcatraz prison..