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A - THE DETENTION CENTERS
1. Prisoners sleeping on the ground
Detainees were sleeping on the floor without a bed in 9 of the 15 detention centers visited by the committee of the public defenders office. For example, during the first visit to the Russian Compound, 35 detainees were sleeping on the floor and 18 detainees continued to sleep on the floor during the second visit.
Note: All Palestinian detainees sleep on the floor in all military detention centers and interrogation centers. [end note]
2. Size of the rooms and the living conditions in them
More than half the detention centers are over crowded: 20 detainees in the Russian Compound are held in a room with only 12 beds.
Note: According to a sworn affidavit given to Addameer on 25 April 2004 regarding the conditions at Azion Detention Center:
"The cell is designed for 10 persons and we were 12 detainees. The room measures 4 x 4 meters, there are 10 mattresses in the room - some are in very bad condition, they're ripped and smell bad. Some are covered and others aren't. One mattress is moldy and is dirt black. Each detainee has one blanket. The walls are smooth and painted but the ceiling is covered with mould, there is only one light from a window measuring 1.50 or 1.10 square meters. It has metal bars and glass wiring, the ventilation is insufficient. We go out for a walk once a day for an hour. In the morning, we only go out for 10 minutes. We can only use the bathroom three times a day; sometimes the soldiers won't let us out more than three times so we have to urinate in a bottle in the room. The average size of rooms in most prisons is 2 meters, although it is sometimes as large as 2.5 or 3 meters. The rooms in Askelan Detention Center are 8 x 6 meters and 8 persons are held there, some large rooms hold up to 20 detainees." [end n
ote]
The space allocated for each detainee is considered much less than that required in the internal regulations for detention centers. In Ramle Detention Center, the allocated space per detainee is 1 meter, and each detainee in Lod Detention Center is allocated 1.2 meters.
3. The lack of separation between the shower and the toilet
There is no separation between the shower and the toilet in 11 of the 15 detention centers that were visited. The shower drain is the same as the toilet drain, which causes bad smells that are difficult to get rid of. This is harmful to the detainees health who complained to the members of the committee of the public defenders office of the existence of insects and mice in the rooms and courtyards. The delegates saw these insects themselves when they visited the Jalame Detention Center. The walls are filthy and unpainted. The ceiling is black and damp. The floor is filthy and full of dirt in Maabar Nitsan, although the rooms were in better condition during the second visit. This is also the situation in central prisons such as Askelan where "the toilet and shower are in the same 1 x 2 meter room."
4. Unacceptable ventilation
The committee found that the ventilation was unacceptable in 10 of the 15 centers visited. The smell was unbearable inside the room. In the Lod Police Station there are no windows at all, there is only one air vent that is out of order.
5. The deprivation of the right to a daily break in an open space
The law stipulates that no person should be detained for more than seven days in a center where there is no possibility of executing his/her right to a daily break. Therefore the Israeli Prison Authority must transfer him/her to another facility where s/he can execute his/her right to a daily break. The detainees are deprived of this right in 8 of the 15 centers visited. During most visits, there were detainees who had been deprived of their right to a daily break for period ranging between seven days to two months. There are no special courtyards for the walks in the Lod and Dimona Detention Centers.
Note: The daily break was reduced from 4 hours to 2 hours, one in the morning and one in the evening, in all the central prisons. The exercise hour has been banned in prisons since July 2003. All the sports material was removed from the metal-roofed courtyards, which measure 15-25 by 20 meters. It is forbidden to return to the room immediately after the daily break. A water fridge was installed in the courtyard at Askelan. Before 2003 there was table tennis, basket ball and volley ball equipment in the yard, but now the detainees run during the daily break. Each section goes out on the daily break alone. All sections have between 70-80 detainees, and there are 120 detainees in certain prisons. Visits between the sections are forbidden despite the fact that they are only 4-5 meters from each other. The detainees at Askelan don't know anything about the detainees in the other sections. Not all the detainees pray together during the Friday prayer which is permitted in place of the daily break in Hado
riym [end note]
6. Weak lighting in the rooms
No sunlight enters the rooms in the Lod Detention Center. The light is prevented from entering the rooms in the Russian Compound, where the rooms are completely covered.
7. Use of the telephone and/or receiving visits is not allowed
Detainees held until the end of the proceedings have the right to make one phone call a day. Nevertheless, the possibility of making a phone call from the pay phone at the Haifa Police Station or port police is extremely limited. Detainees are often punished by being denied family visits. The director of the Emakim Detention Center, allowed detainees to receive visits, but the two visiting rooms are very small. The detainee is separated from his visitors by a wire mesh and a window. The distance between the detainee and his family or visitors is 120 centimeters. The conversation is carried out using internal phones. The visibility and possibility of conversation are limited.
8. The Clinic and the right to treatment
There have been problems with detainees receiving treatment in 3 of 15 centers visited. There are no adequate health and/or psychological services. The children detainees in the Ansar 3 (Ketziot) complained of the lack of specialized medical services, and those who had a cold had to wait for four days to see the nurse.
9. The delay in transferring detainees through the Nitsan entrance
The process of transferring detainees in order to attend court hearings is difficult and problematic. The committee recalled the case of a detainee from Hadoriym who was transferred to Nitsan on Thursday because his hearing was on Sunday in Petah Tikva, which is 40 minutes away from Hadoriym. He spent the night at the Nitsan entrance in very poor conditions. The judge ordered after ruling on the detainee's petition that he be transferred immediately from Hadoriym to Petah Tikva to attend his hearing.
Note: Palestinian political prisoners complain of the frequent, difficult and humiliating conditions of their transfer, whether it is from one prison to another, or in order to attend their trials. This creates a feeling of instability because most of the security detainees currently in prison are detained but have not yet been convicted. For example, the transfer of a detainee from Nafha to attend his trial in Salem can take up to a week, since the prisoner is transferred from Nafha to Ramle then to Jalama. After that he attends his trial after having spent a night in each center. After the trial, the detainee has to spend a night in Jalame, then Ramle until he reaches Nafha. One detainee, Walid Habbas, is transferred nearly every 20 days from one prison to another. In the past two months he was transferred to four prisons. Nearly 20-30 detainees are transferred weekly from Askelan. [end note]
10. The delay in transferring prisoners to the prison authority
The delay in transferring detainees who have been charged or sentenced to the facilities of the prison authorities is a violation of their rights. It also increases the crowding of detainees in detention centers, obstructs the execution of the law, and limits the detainees' rights inside the facilities of the prison authority. The delegates of the committee found that of the 199 detainees in Russian Compound, 23 had been sentenced and should have been transferred to a prison facility. During another visit there were 176 detainees, 38 of which were sentenced and should have been transferred to the facilities of the prison authorities.
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