Due to High Number of Prisoners, the Doors are Open in Iranian Jails!

Roozonline:

Every 47 seconds one is jailed and another is freed in Iran. This is a new figure given by one of Iran’s prison authorities. READ MORE

Nasser Jafargholi, head of projects and plans department of Iran’s Jail Organization, announced with satisfaction the 30,000 reduction in the number of Iranian prisoners in the past 3 years. He said, “by the end of Iranian year in March 2005, we had 130,000 detainees in Iran which is the lowest figure in the past 10 years. However, still the number of detainees are twice the capacity of our prisons.”

In 2002, the critics of judiciary system in Iran believed that the high number of detainees was due to lack of any hesitation in issuing prison sentences by Iranian judges.

Less Detainees, Better Jails

Last week the head of judiciary system, Ayatollah Shahroodi, repeated his plea to the judges for being more cautious in issuing prison sentences. He said, “judges must protect the legitimate freedoms”. This appeal signifies the dissatisfaction of the authorities from over crowded jails.

Judiciary spokesperson the other day announced the establishment of ‘Punishment and Rehabilitation Organization’ in place of Jail Organization. The spokesperson, Jamal Karimirad, said, “according to this scheme there will be judges supervising the procedure of punishment, and at every stage of punishment if the detainee shows signs of improvement, they will order his release.

Now the majority of Iranian detainees are either drug or overdraft convicts. It is quite sometime that Welfare Organization and judiciary authorities are active in preparing the grounds for pardoning the overdraft convicts.

Where is the ideal jail?

According to Jafargholi, right now, the Iranian prisons are in a very good condition, and nutrition and organizational reforms along with other undertaken plans are going to bear fruit.

This is what one of Iran’s jail authorities says, but others have different views.
The Society for Defense of Prisoner’s Rights has drawn the attention of authorities and public to the heath condition of Iran prisons, which are over crowded with little facilities. As an example they point to Zahedan prison which is 400 square meters compound with 2800 prisoners, or the central prison in Hamedan with 17 square meters rooms each accommodating 50 prisoners.