Dubai repatriates hundreds of prisoners with free return tickets

Hundreds of prisoners in Dubai have returned to their home countries after local authorities stepped up to pay for their tickets.

Dubai Prisons, along with charities and philanthropists, spent more than Dh1.4m to help repatriate 1,145 prisoners.

The gesture is a part of the ‘Your Return Is A Duty’ initiative organised by Dubai Police’s general department of punitive and correctional institutions.

The prisoners completed their jail terms but could not afford to buy their return tickets.

“The department, in collaboration with partners including charities and philanthropists, has managed to provide tickets worth Dh1,479,010 for 1,145 inmates [males and females] during the first half of this year,” said Brig Ali Al Shamali, director of the punitive and correctional institutions at Dubai police.

The initiative aims to reunite prisoners with their families and ensure their safety, he said.

“Other various annual humanitarian initiatives, organised by the department to help inmates and their families, include sponsoring tuition fees, residential charges, medical equipment, and blood money, as well as providing food assistance and distributing Eid clothes and school bags,” Brig Al Shamali said.