Official have denied claims that prisoners are being kept in jail months after completing their sentences because of red tape.

Pakistan Embassy community welfare officer Maqsood Qadir Shah said some cases had come to light after he made an authorised visit to Jaw prison yesterday.

"I met 53 inmates and all of them said they were kept in good conditions," he said.

"They requested for clothes and wanted to talk more often with their families in Pakistan."

Mr Shah said some of the inmates claimed they had completed their sentences, but were still behind bars.

"We are ready to provide legal assistance to our nationals in distress and have requested prison authorities to send us a list stating details of those inmates completing their sentences or requiring assistance from the embassy," he said.

Mr Shah claimed the embassy had previously come across cases where inmates jailed for petty crimes had been forced to wait for one or two months after completing their sentences because their paperwork was not in order or the embassy had to locate the sponsor.

But the Interior Ministry's Reformation and Rehabilitation Directorate insisted no prisoners were kept behind bars after completing their sentences.

"Each inmate is immediately released on the determined release date without any delay," it said.

"The inmate is referred to the security authority concerned to carry out the administrative and legal procedures such as deportation for foreign convicts or other procedures if the inmate is wanted for other cases.

"Meanwhile, the foreign convicts are referred to a shelter run by the General Directorate of Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs immediately after serving their sentences if they are illegal residents or lack the necessary paperwork to allow their deportation."

The directorate said such cases happen when prisoners have other cases against them, have been slapped with a travel ban or have no identification documents.

"This requires the embassy to issue identification documents to enable them to leave the country," it said.

"Such procedures take time."

The directorate said the ministry's Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs directorate co-operates with all accredited foreign embassies in Bahrain in relation to passport cases.

"There is almost constant co-operation with the Pakistan Embassy to facilitate the departure of Pakistanis violating residency regulations as well as detained Pakistanis whose passports had expired, lost or were unavailable for various reasons," it added.

Mr Shah said embassy officials were also keen to study differences in the prison terms of offenders with some jailed for a month and others a year for the same crime.

But the directorate said the courts were responsible for sentencing prisoners and setting their release dates, which also depended on the behaviour of inmates while serving their jail terms.