Maafushi Prison extends court rooms to 05, increases opportunity for more online court hearings

Maafushi Prison of Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) has started utilising additional two court rooms today at the Prison, increasing the total number of court rooms to five.

The courtrooms were inaugurated by Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu at a ceremony held at Maafushi Prison today. The ceremony was also joined by Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Uz Ibrahim Mohamed Didi, Director of Maafushi Prison ASP Ahmed Jaadhulla and Commissioned Officers and prison officers of Maafushi Prison.

The purpose of increasing the number of court rooms and utilising them is due to the fact that there are always many remanded persons at prisons pending court hearings and it was rather difficult and expensive to transport people from one point to another; especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, following the use of additional court rooms, the back log of criminal court’s cases is expected to clear at a faster rate an anticipated before. In that regard, Male’ Prison also officially started utilising three court rooms on 13th February 2022.

The five court rooms will provide the opportunity to hold 25 online hearings per day for inmates and remanded persons. The Prison can also provide additional family and lawyer visits than in the past.