Palestine Center: The Occupation Escalates Solitary Confinement and Targets Prisoner Movement Leaders
The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities have escalated the policy of solitary confinement against male and female prisoners, considering it is used to tighten detention conditions. The center transferred dozens of prisoners to solitary cells, including six female prisoners, in difficult conditions including cramped cells and deprivation of ventilation and showers. The center accused the prison administration of targeting leaders of the prisoner movement to weaken their role.
The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities have recently escalated the policy of solitary confinement against male and female prisoners, considering that this policy is used to tighten detention conditions and double the suffering of those isolated. The center said in a press statement on Tuesday that the occupation prison administration, on instructions from the intelligence apparatus, has transferred dozens of prisoners to solitary cells over the past two years under difficult conditions, alongside measures of restriction, deprivation, and abuse. It noted that the isolation policy has also affected female prisoners, explaining that six female prisoners are currently in isolation, including Lin Mask, Shaima Khazem, Fatima Jisrawi, Yasmine Shaaban, and Lama Khater in Damon prison in northern occupied Palestine, in addition to journalist prisoner Bushra al-Tawil in Ramla isolation. The center explained that the isolated female prisoners are periodically replaced with other female prisoners, ensuring that the isolation cells in Damon prison are never empty of isolated female prisoners. It pointed out that isolated prisoners are held in extremely cramped cells that only accommodate the mattress they sleep on, with no ventilation windows, leading to extreme heat in summer and humidity in winter, while prisoners are deprived of blankets and winter clothing. It added that the prison administration deprives isolated prisoners of going to the exercise yard for long periods, and when allowed out for short periods, their hands and feet are shackled with iron chains, in addition to being deprived of knowing the time and prayer times. The center spoke of other restrictions including preventing prisoners from showering and changing clothes for periods that may extend to months, and depriving them of cleaning materials, soap, toothpaste, and razors. It also accused the prison administration of carrying out repeated raids on isolation cells under the pretext of security inspections, involving shackling, beatings, and insults, as well as confiscating a number of prisoners' personal belongings. The Palestine Center said that the isolation policy systematically targets active leaders of the prisoner movement, aiming to weaken their role in representing prisoners and organizing their affairs inside prisons, and to cut communication between them and other prisoners. It indicated that the occupation uses isolation as a tool for collective punishment, noting that it imposed, in parallel with the war on Gaza, widespread isolation measures that included closing prisons and isolating them from each other and from the outside world. It also noted the establishment of prisons and sections dedicated to isolation, including Rakevet prison located underground, which it said holds prisoners from the Gaza Strip, in addition to Sde Teiman detention camp and sections in Naqab and Ofer prisons. In conclusion, the center called on international human rights institutions to form a legal and human rights team to visit prisons and isolation cells and inspect prisoners' conditions, and to pressure the occupation authorities to end the isolation policy and release those in isolation, warning of the risks threatening their lives amid what it described as medical neglect and repeated assaults. According to the latest data from prisoner institutions until the beginning of September, the number of prisoners and detainees in occupation prisons is about 9,350, including 90 female prisoners and more than 350 children, while the number of administrative detainees is 3,176.