Government report: Harsh conditions inside Israel’s prisons

Prisoners being held in Israeli jails and detention centres are subjected to harsh conditions, a report by the country’s Public Defender’s Office said.

According to Quds Press, Israeli newspapers said the report examined 24 Israeli prison facilities and ten detention centres last year.

The report found that there is a big gap between the detention conditions inside Israeli jails and in prisons in the West, noting that Israeli prisons have cramped cells, are unclean, there are no rehabilitation programmes, and there is a shortage of basic prison equipment.

Read: ‘Most Palestinian minors arrested by Israeli forces claim physical violence during detention’

Cells are only three metres wide in Israeli prisons, compared to eight metres in Western countries.

The Israeli prison authority has said it is currently renovating Israeli prisons.

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Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club and rights activist Qadura Fares told Quds Press that the Israeli report reinforces what has long been reported – that conditions inside Israeli jails are harsh.

Fares called for an investigation into this report and with it an increased awareness of the suffering of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails, as well as support for protests undertaken by Palestinian prisoners.s

Rights groups say that there are more than 6,500 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails including 56 females, 350 minors, 11 MPs and 500 under administrative detention.