Women without prospect of leaving have mounted desperate bids to escape from Dar al-Reaya ‘care homes’ after allegedly being subject to abusive ‘hell’ conditions
Saudi Arabian women have claimed the country has secret women’s prisons that are so “hellish” inmates launch desperate attempts to escape – even at the cost of their own lives.
The Middle Eastern nation is famous for its poor record on human rights, having been ranked near-bottom on detailed lists exploring global gender equality. In 2024, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 126 out of 146 countries, with advocacy groups finding they face massive discrimination at home and work. But the problem is much worse than it appears, Saudi nationals have said, as they claim women are sent to prisons for “disobedient” women whose families decide they need rehabilitation.
Campaigners speaking to The Guardian have shared harrowing stories of being sent to secure facilities as a punishment for allegedly refusing to “obey” sexual abuse at home.
They have claimed they were sent away and then subject to a campaign of flogging, isolation and abuse in a twisted attempt at “rehabilitation” until they “reconcile” with their abusers. Human rights campaigners from ALQST have documented alleged cases of abuse and neglect.
The group states it has uncovered wider abuse and neglect, including malnutrition, poor health and hygiene, mistreatment, brutality, denigration and excessive use of solitary confinement at the prisons, known as “care homes” or Dar al-Reaya.
Campaigners say they have struggled to speak out about them in their home country, but those who have spoken up claim the conditions are so poor that women have committed or attempted suicide in a desperate bid to escape. In 2017, video footage posted online purportedly showed women trying to jump from the roof of one centre in Mecca.
Other inmates – who are unable to leave until they secure permission from their family or a male guardian – have said the arrangement is “like hell”.
One young Saudi woman told The Guardian: “Every girl growing up in Saudi knows about Dar al-Reaya and how awful it is. It’s like hell. I tried to end my life when I found out I was going to be taken to one. I knew what happened to women there and thought ‘I can’t survive it’.”
London-based Saudi activist Maryam Aldossari, said women are forced to stay in the hellish prisons until they “accept the rules”. She said: “A young girl or woman will stay in there for as long as it takes for her to accept the rules.”
Women have said they learn about the prisons – which were set up in the 1960s – usually during their early to mid-teens, and that they keep them locked in cycles of vicious abuse. Saudi Arabian officials claim they are used as a “shelter for girls accused or convicted of various crimes” and add that they “rehabilitate the female inmates” with help from psychiatrists.
A spokesperson for the Saudi government said the country runs specialist care facilities to support vulnerable groups, including women and children trying to escape domestic violence.
The government “categorically rejected claims of enforced confinement, mistreatment, or coercion”. The spokesperson said: “These are not detention centres, and any allegation of abuse is taken seriously and subject to thorough investigation…Women are free to leave at any time, whether to attend school, work, or other personal activities, and may exit permanently whenever they choose with no need of approval from a guardian or family member.”
The Daily Mirror has approached the Saudi Arabian embassy for further comment.