TABRIZ, E. Azarbaijan Head of Iran's Prisons Organization said in this northeastern provincial capital city that 60 percent of prisoners in the country are drug-related convicts whose number is over 96,000. Morteza Bakhtiari said that according to the latest statistics, currently there are a total of 160,000 inmates throughout the country. Underlining the urgent need for segregating drug convicts from other inmates, Bakhtiari said that convicts in different categories should be treated differently.

Pointing to the importance of the ongoing poetry and literature congress for prisoners in Tabriz, he said that such gathering will play an effective role in the correction of inmates. On arranging regular visits to prisons by newsmen, he said with the permission of the chief of the Judiciary the visits will take place soon. He said that reporters can play a positive role in prevention of crimes by reflecting the realities.

He also underscored the importance of employment at prisons as it provides the inmates with an opportunity to both correct their misdeeds and also financially support their families. Elsewhere in his speech, Bakhtiari said that female inmates constitute only 5 percent of the total prisoners throughout the country, imprisoned mainly in drug-related offenses. Reiterating the need for transfer of prisons to the suburbs, the official said gradually all prisons will be moved out of the cities, adding that the plan will be carried out in Tabriz soon.

Bakhtiari is in Tabriz for the nationwide two-day poetry and literature congress of inmates. (IRNA)