In the US, “country club” prisons are usually reserved for white collar, non-violent criminals.

In the home of our friends the Saudis, country club prisons are for mass murderers—as long as they were murdering in the name of Islam: Perks of penance for Saudi jihadis.

In a small compound on the outskirts of Riyadh, the Saudi government is exploring new ways to combat extremism.

This is still a prison, run by the Ministry of Interior and housed inside secure premises with high perimeter walls and barbed wire, but the Saudi authorities prefer to call it a “care centre” and refer to prisoners as “beneficiaries”.

Inside, prisoners enjoy access to wide-ranging recreational facilities including their own swimming pools, video games and table tennis. In return for the more relaxed environment, prisoners have to attend religious education classes where Islamic scholars challenge their views.

The thinking behind the new initiative is to fight al-Qaeda’s ideology by convincing militant Islamists they have a distorted view of Islam. The Ministry of Interior oversees the new scheme and has created the Ideological Security Unit (ISU) dedicated to co-ordinating their efforts.

“You cannot defeat an ideology by force. You have to fight ideas with ideas,” says Abdul-Rahman Hadlaq, ISU director.

But the centre goes beyond just debating ideas. It also encourages prisoners to express their “softer side” by running art therapy classes where inmates find alternative ways to express themselves.

Saudi authorities are keen to stress that any convicted Islamist will be offered a chance at rehabilitation, regardless of past crimes.

Ahmed Shayea drove a massive truck bomb into the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad in August 2003, killing nine people and injuring more than 60.