Adalah and HR Partners to Attorney General: Detention Conditions of Women Prisoners in Solitary Confinement Ward of Neve Tirtza are Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading and Illegal

Numerous Israeli media outlets have recently published news stories on a report prepared by expert lawyers from the Israeli Bar Association that contains a chilling description of the inhuman detention conditions in which women prisoners are held in solitary confinement in the Neve Tirtza women's prison. The news reports included testimonies from lawyers and journalists who have visited the prison and witnessed the miserable conditions of confinement first hand.

Following the release of the Bar Association report, Adalah sent a letter to the Attorney General, the Director of the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the Minister of Internal Security demanding the immediate closure of the solitary confinement ward in Neve Tirtza, and the opening of a criminal investigation against the prison administration and the guards responsible for abusing and torturing the women prisoners. The letter was sent in Adalah’s own name and on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights (Gaza), and the University of Haifa’s Legal Clinic for the Rights and Rehabilitation of Prisoners. The organizations also demanded that the practice of shackling the women to their beds as a form of disciplinary punishment be prohibited.

In the letter , Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker cited the news reports as stating that the isolation and solitary confinement rooms at the prison are extremely small and unsuitable for human use. The toilets in the rooms are old and lack seats, and they are hard to keep clean, which leads to a constant foul smell. The bath taps are located directly above the toilet at a height of 50cm, which forces the women to bend over the toilet in order to clean themselves. Due to the proximity of the bathroom and the smelly toilet to the bed and the lack of separation between them, the women are forced to sleep on mattresses that are drenched in water and sewage. The rooms lack air and sunlight, which increases the intensity of the odor to unbearable levels.

In addition, argued Adalah, the prison authorities punish women prisoners by restraining them and tying their hands and feet to the bed for up to 12 hours at a time. The form of punishment is employed even in cases where the prisoner is not known to be violent or to present a danger to herself or others as stipulated in the law. Moreover, the guards often refuse the women’s request to be untied in order to use the toilet, and they are therefore forced to relieve themselves on the bed and in their clothes. Since the prison authorities do not change the bedding regularly, the women are then compelled to sleep on a bed covered in waste days on end. Preventing prisoners from relieving themselves in a dignified and hygienic manner constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that is illegal under international human rights law, argued Adalah. Further, causing severe suffering as a means of punishment constitutes torture under international human rights law.

There is also a serious shortage of cleaning materials and sanitary towels. The reports quoted one of the women prisoners as stating that she had used washing powder for bathing because there was no soap, which resulted in burns all over her body. The organizations further challenged the use of humiliating inspections that are carried out by female guards, who force prisoners to expose their genitals while providing a urine sample, in order to ensure that they provide their own urine and not another prisoner’s, even if the prisoner is not known to be a drug-user. Alarmingly, as stated in the reports, many women prisoners complain of violence and brutal treatment at the hands of IPS staff, and bear signs of violence on their faces and bodies.

In the letter , Adalah argued that the fact that the various sources cited reported near-identical information indicates that the conditions they describe are not random incidents, but the daily reality of life in the prison. Adalah further contended that the existence of isolation wards allows the prison authorities to violate the basic rights and dignity of vulnerable women prisoners.