A recent study has found that the cost of keeping one inmate in a correction and rehabilitation centre is JD730 a month - that is around JD24 per day, according to Ayman al-Awaysheh, head of correction and rehabilitation centres in Jordan.

Awaysheh said that the total annual cost of keeping the 17,830 prisoners currently in detention is JD156.3 million.

“There are both direct and indirect costs. Money is spent on fighting crime and providing a comfortable yet ‘unattractive’ life/stay for the inmates, that doesn’t conflict with their human rights,” Awaysheh explained.

The direct costs include spending money on food and water, clothes, healthcare, education, entertainment, electricity, gas, furniture, and vocational and educational programs.

Indirect costs include paying for security, transportation, staff, court fees and giving money to some prisoners’ families.

Prisoners are offered programs specifically designed to correct their behaviour, to ensure that they do not reoffend once they are released from the centres.

Those costly programs include attending lectures, workshops, training workshops (including music and art) and school, where they are given classes from secondary school level up to Tawjihi, in an effort to eliminate illiteracy.

Inmates can "work" at the centres too, assuming different positions, such as teaching. They get paid for working and many often send their wages to their families.

However, those with jobs must be supervised by two prison guards, which "adds to the centres’ costs," Awaysheh noted.

Out of all the inmates in all the centres, 160 are facing the death penalty, 17 of whom are women.