How to get out of an Arab prison

From Arab Times (Kuwait):

Quran memorizers to be freed: The Ministry Interior will reward 60 prisoners by releasing them from jail for learning the Holy Quran by heart, reports Al-Watan daily quoting a ministry source.

It is miraculous how memorizing a book instantly makes you moral.

And it is not only Kuwait:

Sitting at the head of a class, correcting a student’s recitation of the Holy Qur’an, Ata, 29, seems like any other Qur’an teacher.

However, what differentiates this tutor from others is the fact that Ata — who memorized the Qur’an in prison — is currently serving a life sentence for murder at Dubai Prison in Al-Aweer.

His students, all convicts, are participants of a unique Dubai government initiative — launched in 2002 by the late ruler of Dubai Sheikh Maktoum ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum — to release prisoners who memorize Islam’s holy book early.

Sheikh Maktoum was inspired by the belief that the Qur’an offers spiritual guidance and provides its readers with the ethos to lead upright lives.

“If an inmate honors the Holy Qur’an, then God will help him or her change themselves into becoming a better person,” said Ibrahim Bu Melha, chairman of the Dubai International Holy Qur’an Award, which is running the program.

Prisoners who memorize the entire Qur’an are released 20 years early, those who memorize 20 chapters get 15 years off, those who memorize 15 chapters get 10 years off, those who memorize 10 chapters get five years off, those who memorize five chapters get a year off, and those who memorize three chapters get six months off.

However, as a convicted murderer, Ata is unable to have his jail term lessened. The program is not open to murderers and people guilty of serious crimes. “I’ve been in prison for 12 years and every day I regret what I did,” he said.

Hamas also subscribes to this rehabilitation program:

Inmates in the Gaza Strip's main prison can now reduce their sentences by one year if they memorize five chapters from the Quran, Islam's holy book.

The prison, controlled by the radical Islamic Hamas movement since its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, holds 350 prisoners, 30 of whom are on death row.

The new scripture program seeks to encourage prisoners "to behave according to the Quran's law," said the prison governor, Col. Abu al-Abed Hamid, in a statement.

So is memorizing the Quran so painful that it makes up for years of prison?