Recently Palestinian prisoners detained at the Damon Prison in Mt. Carmel on various charges or under administrative detention have complained of intentional, ongoing abuse by the prison administration. The abuse reached its height with the coming of winter and the rainy season.

The story of the water jug in Prison 400

I know that this story is a little old, but since we are talking about prisons, and you wanted to know what goes on there, here is the story: I used to work in Prison 400, and one of the commanders there—to be more specific, her name was Moran—left an impression on me that I will never forget.

Petition contesting the Prison Authority’s refusal to provide psychiatric therapy to a patient

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights filed a petition to the Court of Administrative Affairs on behalf of a Palestinian prisoner who has been held in solitary confinement for four years at the Shekma Prison.

Freeing ourselves of the prisoners

What would have happened if the damage to the wing of the plane that dropped a one-ton bomb, killing 11 sleeping Palestinian children,* had forced the Israeli pilot to eject over Gaza? Would his release not have been the first subject on the agenda of a meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)?

Letters from the Ketziot detention center

I do not intend to talk about the suffering of the Palestinian people, about the occupation’s abuse of the residents of the occupied territories, about the separation fence that tears the Palestinian people and certainly not about the extrajudicial executions

News flash from the occupied territories

Raed Mahamid, an attorney for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, reported that he visited several female detainees in the Tel Mond detention facility

Asked to pay the price of a false arrest

Citizens who were arrested and placed in detention just because they were not carrying their ID cards with them have filed a civil suit against the police prosecutor, the chief officer at the Wadi Ara police department, and several police officers from the same department

Israeli Prison Authority does not spend on Palestinian prisoners’ treatment

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is accusing the Israeli Prison Authority of shirking its responsibility to provide medical care for Palestinian prisoners and of discriminating against them

Police violence: Corp. Miki Harel convicted of police brutality

Yesterday, a policeman with the Rishon Lezion police was convicted of using violence against two citizens he had stopped for traffic violations.

Minor held illegally two days in interrogation room, cuffed and without a bed

In recent days, the Public Defender’s Office sent an urgent complaint to Minister of Domestic Security Gideon Ezra and Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi, informing them of the detention conditions of a 17-year old boy arrested a few days ago on suspicion of dealing drugs

Sleeping above the toilet

In 2000, the Palestinian Authority arrested 20-year-old Youssef al-Asara on charges of collaborating with Israel. About a year later, he managed to escape to Israel, where he was no longer a collaborator fugitive from the PA and became an illegal resident, a fugitive from the law-enforcement authorities in Israel.

Israeli Prison Authority prevents two Palestinian detainees from registering at the university

In an arbitrary step—indeed, in an illegal step according to legal institutions and prisoners’ rights groups—the Israeli Prison Authority prevented two Palestinian female security prisoners from registering for university studies

Public Defender’s Office: The state prevents legal aid

A report issued by the Public Defender’s Office states that thousands of prisoners who appear before parole boards after serving two thirds of their sentences are not guaranteed due process because they are deprived of the right to an attorney as stipulated by law.

Problem prisoners are punished with beatings in the “refusers' cell”

An annual report on police jails and prisons under the administration of the Prison Authority found that prisons are cramped and receive no sunlight or air. Prisoners are prohibited from using the yard, and medical care is very poor and endangers inmates' lives.

More like Third-World prisons

It has been 25 years since Justice Cohen, deputy chief justice of the High Court, wrote that any person imprisoned in Israel has the right to be imprisoned in conditions that allow him to live an enlightened, humane life. These words still stand.

Two Jordanian prisoners have completed their terms, but a disagreement between the army and the Prison Authority delays their release

Two Jordanian inmates have been held in the Hasharon Prison for months after completing their jail sentences because the Prison Authority and the Israeli Defense Forces have not reached an agreement over who must pay the cost of transporting them to the border.

Abu Rabiya will return to his land in Dugit, but his concern for the imprisoned remains

Many years ago, when the road from Gaza to Tel Aviv was still open and people used to get into their cars and drive to the big city to work or vacation in Jaffa , there lived in the northern Gaza Strip an old Bedouin called Abu Ata.

The High Court of Justice orders the state to explain why all prisoners do not have beds

Supreme Court justices issued an order nisi (a show cause order) on 26.5.05 obligating the state to explain within 60 days why it does not provide a bed for every prisoner.

Violent shaking during interrogation

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel has received Mr. Halaf's complaint. The following details emerge from his complaint:
1) Mr. Halaf was arrested by IDF soldiers on 1.7.04 in the village of Berkin . He was subsequently transferred to the lock up in Salem and after two hours was moved to the Kishon Detention Center .

Black thoughts

Why do all those who support a democratic, Jewish state insist that all the Gentiles born to a Jewish father and an Arab mother in the Gaza Strip serve in the Israeli army? They openly promote the immigration of thousands of Gentiles to Israel and support a law that would naturalize the children of migrant workers

Shin Bet suspected of illegal tapping

MK Gila Finkelstein is demanding that an investigation be made into suspicions that the Shin Bet violated the human rights of six prisoners being detained for obstructing traffic.

A PHR doctor visits the Ofer detention camp

Dr. Avi Ronen visited the Ofer detention camp on April 17, 2005. During the visit, Dr. Ronen examined six sick detainees and spoke with the camp's doctors. Dr. Ronen was accompanied by Maher Tilhami, an attorney with Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), who aided him in translation.

Detention of the petitioner and HaMoked's attempts to locate him

On 9 November 2004, the petitioner, a Palestinian holding a Jordanian passport, was detained and handed over to the General Security Service [GSS] for interrogation.

Israel is holding 8,814 Palestinians in its prisons

Statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs show that Israel is currently holding 8,814 Palestinian men and women in its prisons in poor, inhumane conditions

On the Occasion of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

On the Occasion of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) wishes to draw the public's attention to the suffering of victims of torture in Israel and to the destructive influence of GSS interrogations:

· On the victims, their families and Palestinian society

Arab citizens demonstrate in front of the Gilboa Prison

Following an appeal from the Association of the Friends of Political Prisoners and in conjunction with the Arab Higher Follow-Up Committee, the day before yesterday some 300 people demonstrated in front of the Gilboa Prison

Prisoners in Ketziot Prison: There are serious diseases, rats, and snakes

Palestinian prisoners in Ketziot Prison in the Negev complain of poor health conditions, the denial of family visits, and the spread of rats and snakes inside the tents with the approach of summer. In addition, they complain of disease and a lack of medical care.

The Prison Authority abuses Sheikh Raed Salah

Head of the Islamist movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, and his colleague, Sheikh Mahmoud Abd al-Latif Mahajna—who are being detained at the Ashmoret prison in Kfar Yona—have complained about the prison administration's humiliating treatment and violation of their rights.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails continue the second day of a hunger strike they started yesterday to protest the harsh conditions of their imprisonment and the continued assault on their basic rights. Today is Palestinian Prisoner Day, and the inmates are trying to bring their plight to the public eye.

On April 13, 2005, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) submitted a petition with the High Court of Justice against the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Domestic Security, and the Prison Authority, appealing a ruling issued by the Tel Aviv Administrative Court

PCATI submitted a third petition to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Nawaf Qaysi, a Palestinian detainee, 70% disabled, who has not been allowed to met with counsel for close to a month

At the Hasharon Prison, inmates are photographed nude for blackmail

The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs found that the authorities in the Hasharon Prison photographed Palestinian juvenile prisoners in the nude, to use the photos to force them to end the two-day hunger strike declared last week.

A statement published by the Palestinian Prisoner Forum yesterday says that Israel is holding 350 Palestinian children in its prisons, some of them under the age of 13.

ACRI: There is an excessive use of detention

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) wrote a letter to the Attorney General warning him that there was an excessive use being made of detention.

Police handcuff prisoners in violation of the law

A meeting of the Knesset Legislative Committee yesterday witnessed stinging criticisms of the police. During the session, it was noted that the police do not respect the law that prohibits them from handcuffing a suspect or prisoner in a public place unless there are reasonable fears that the suspect may attempt to escape

Arbitrary arrest and brutal interrogation of a peace activist from Tulkarm

On March 2, the army arrested Mohammed Fawzi Tanji on his way from Abu Dis University to his home in Tulkarm. Since then, he has been detained in Kishon Prison in difficult conditions and undergoing a merciless interrogation

“They extracted the confession with torture”

Iyad al-Ashwah, a Danish citizen of Lebanese origin accused of spying for Hizbollah, claims that his confession was extracted by unacceptable means and by torture.

The guard would not release Abu Hadwan's restrains even when he was dying of lung cancer

As far back as the 1990s, Mohammed Abu Hadwan's fellow prisoners knew he had increasing trouble breathing. The Shikma prison in Ashkelon allowed him—as it did other older, sick prisoners—to remain for long hours in the yard, beyond the two daily walks usually allowed. If anyone should get out, his prison mates thought, it's him

12-year-old girls sue the police for unlawful arrest

Two 12-year-old girls from the Jewish enclave of Hebron are suing the Hebron police and two of its investigators for NIS200,000 in compensation before the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.

Palestinian prisoners announce hunger strike

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons will begin a hunger strike next Sunday (April 17) in protest of the difficult conditions of their imprisonment, and the continued blatant violations of their basic rights. Next Sunday is also the Palestinian day of the prisoner, and prisoners are demanding that their problems be made known to the public.

Prepared by Amit Cohen and Naor Heiler, Maariv's Paris correspondent

Statements by FBI agents who attended interrogations in military prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay reveal that US Army interrogators use the Israeli flag to humiliate Iraqi prisoners

An alarming tale of torture from a women's military prison: a terrifying interrogation

Female recruit A. was completely unprepared for the torrent of abuse and degradation she was exposed to during her interrogation by the military police

Physician for Human Rights: Prison guards refuse to remove restraints of two prisoners, one with heart disease and the other with cancer, during their detention in the hospital

About three weeks ago Physician for Human Rights went to the Ministry of Health and the Ministers of Health, Defense, and Domestic Security, demanding that the memorandum on binding prisoners to their beds while they are in the hospital be reconsidered

Youths kept in jail despite judges' decision

More than 20 youths, aged 14 to 17, have been held in difficult conditions in detention centers for several months, despite a judge's ruling that they be transferred to Welfare Ministry treatment and rehabilitation centers.

The decision denying female security prisoners the right to receive visits from relatives should be abolished

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has filed an appeal with the Prison Authority's legal advisor, Haim Shmulevitz, demanding that he overturn the decision denying Hasharon Prison's female security prisoners the right to visit with their relatives.

Adalah asks Minister of Domestic Security to abolish Regulation 22 that grossly discriminate in detention conditions between security detainees and criminal prisoners: According to one article, criminal prisoners are entitled to four pairs of socks, while security prisoners have a right to only three pairs

On Sunday, December 19, 2004, Adalah attorney Abeer Baker asked acting Domestic Security Minister Gideon Ezra to abolish Regulation 22 under the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement-Detention) that discriminates between security prisoners and criminal prisoners in the condition of their confinement.

Concealment of prison

On 15 December 2004, the High Court of Justice held a hearing on the petition filed by HaMoked against the existence of a clandestine detention facility that is located in a secret army base and used for the interrogation of suspects…

Stop abusing us

Security prisoners in Israel jails face many problems and humanitarian crises. Usually, the prisoners attempt to reach appropriate solutions to them through dialogue and persuasion; when this does not work, prison leaders use the final weapon in their arsenal: a hunger strike.

In Mofaz's state

If the Shin Bet and the police do not find enough evidence to indict after a month of investigation, they will issue an order for administrative detention.

Critically ill prisoner restrained in his hospital bed

Patients' rights lost on the way to the hospital: The family of a security prisoner was shocked to find that his hands and one of his feet were handcuffed to his bed during his stay at the Assaf Harofe Hospital

To allow the prisoners on hunger strike to meet with their attorneys

ACRI and Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court yesterday (29.8.04) on behalf of seven attorneys and additional human rights organizations against the Israel Prison Service (IPS)

Security prisoners charge guards with humiliating them

Palestinian security prisoners have alleged that guards and Prisons Service officers at Nafha Prison deliberately humiliated them during the hunger strike. The inmates, some of whom have been in prison for over a decade, said they had never before experienced such humiliating treatment from prison guards and officers.

Adalah to Supreme Court: allow the children of “security” prisoners to have physical contact with their incarcerated parents

On 16 August 2004, Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of Israel demanding that the Court issue an order of injunction instructing the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to allow the children of prisoners classified by the IPS as security prisoners to have physical contact with their parents during prison visits

Adalah demands an end to illegal policy of limiting attorneys from meeting “security” prisoners

On 9 August 2004, Adalah submitted a pre-petition to the Office of the State Attorney demanding her immediate intervention to repeal an illegal policy whereby attorneys' access to prisons has been limited or denied. This policy has been particularly prevalent in the Hadarim and Nafha prisons

Serious violation of the rights of prisoners and detainees

The State Prosecutor's report, presented this week to Attorney General Mani Mazuz and Minister of Domestic Security Tzachi Hanegbi, states that the conditions and treatment of prisoners at the Russian Compound are unbearable