•    Prior to the Al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, there were only 5 Palestinian women imprisoned in Israeli jails. Since then, the number of Palestinian female prisoners has risen dramatically, reaching its highest figure of over 120 in 2004 and a total of more than 700 over 8 years.

•    There are currently around 65 Palestinian women imprisoned, detained or held under administrative detention – or detention without trial – in Israeli jails, among which 5 women are sentenced for life, while 11 are sentenced for more that 10 years. Five of them are girls, under the age of 18. An additional 15 women are mothers of approximately 50 minors, including one woman who gave birth in prison and was allowed to keep her child with her.

•    Given their small number in the total of Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian women are usually detained in harsher conditions than men in jails dating back to the British Mandate period (1922-1948), lacking modern day infrastructure or gender-sensitive health care. Humid, unhygienic, deprived of natural sunlight and overcrowded, these facilities have been designed for men and by men and rarely do they meet women’s needs.

•    While interrogated, women are often subjected to such forms of cruel treatment as humiliation, intimidation, shouting, sleep deprivation, prolonged shackling in painful positions, isolation in cells and even beatings. According to ex-prisoners accounts, psychological pressure is the most preferred technique used towards Palestinian women by Israeli interrogators. Threats of house demolitions, arrests of family members, forced collaboration, rape or other forms of sexual abuse and harassment are thus an often practice.

Lack of gender sensitive health care and hygiene standards

•    Due to insufficient and poor quality nutrition cooked for Palestinian female prisoners by Israeli criminal offenders, women suffer from loss of weight and hair, general weakness, anemia and iron deficiency. Their diet is not changed or improved when they fall ill, are pregnant or breast-feeding.

•    Poor ventilation, lack of fresh air, moisture and the presence of cockroaches and insects in the cells contribute to the development of dermatological diseases. Additionally, the lack of movement, the unavailability of sports equipment and a spacious recreation area as well as uncomfortable iron bed frames and only 3 to 5 centimeters thick mattresses cause women back and joints pains.

•    Huge mental pressure, the lack of appropriate nutrition and isolation through the denial of family visits contribute to the perturbation of women’s menstrual cycles, whereas older women suffer from psychological and physical difficulties caused by menopause. However, the Israeli Prison Service does not provide them with specialized gynecological health care. While it should be applied as a preventive measure, gynecological health care is only offered to those women in need of hospitalization.

•    Additionally, rooms at Damon, one of the prisons where more than 30 Palestinian women are detained do not include showers making women’s hygiene requirements hard to fulfill during both menstruation and menopause.

Denial of Family Visits

•    At least 10 Palestinian women are prevented from family visits as a punitive measure. An additional, 6 female prisoners are allowed to receive visits only from minors, namely children under the age of 16, either their younger siblings or their own kids as adult members of her families are barred from permits on “security grounds”. As minors are allowed to visit by themselves only once a month, these women are subjected to further isolation.

•    Mothers of minors are subjected to the same restrictions as men in terms of access to family visits even though international regulations on women in prison give precedence to the maintenance of strong family ties giving them the opportunity to serve their sentence close to home upon their request and making visits as often and flexible as possible.

•    Palestinian female prisoners are only allowed to have open visits and thus physical contact with those of their children who have not reached the age of six. However, research on female prisoners worldwide proves that the lack of adequate and sufficient contact with children and family members is a key source of anxiety for women in jails. Such feelings are translated into depression, anger and guilt and lead to the deterioration of the overall mental state and health condition of the woman.

•    Communication with the outside world in general is very restricted. Phone calls are permitted only in exceptional or humanitarian cases depending on the record of the prisoner. Letters are delivered to prisoners after huge delays, creating thus a huge disincentive for families to communicate with women in prison in such a way.

•    Importantly, the isolation of female prisoners reduces their chances of an easier reintegration into the society and the family upon their release.

For more information on Palestinian female prisoners, their detention conditions, access to health care and education, please refer to Addameer’s “Protection of Palestinian female prisoners and detainees” project website at: www.aseerat.ps

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 11:40 am and is filed under Israeli Detention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.