The following article appeared in the Iranian newspaper Ghanoon, or "Law." As a result, Ghanoon was forced to suspend publication on June 20.
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None of us ever wants to serve time in prison, but we all are curious about what happens to prison inmates, and how a day in prison progresses into the night. Of course, we now know that prisons are no longer terrifying dungeons in the depths of darkness, that the prisoner is somebody who needs help, and that prison officials are responsible for looking after him. The prisoner has rights. His punishment is to be denied contact with wider society and nothing more. But this is only one side of the coin. To see the other, it is enough to accompany a prisoner for 24 hours in the modern Iranian prison system.
The big desert in the southernmost part of Tehran Province is home to a large prison. The directions on the paper are straightforward: The Old Road to Qom, Hasan Abad Highway Police, Charm Shahr Road, Kilometer 5, Bijin Industrial Park, Greater Tehran Correctional Complex. This prison is famed as the biggest in the Middle East and sits 5 kilometers from the main road that every prisoner must travel when he is released. The prison receives low-quality running water for just two hours a day, and it is not healthy to drink it.
What you read below is from an interview Ghanoon conducted with a person who spent 24 hours in the prison.
Two Hours Outside the Prison Bars
After crossing a long distance with the prisoner-transfer guard, we reached the prison. But we could not get in. In that maddening high temperature outside the prison, we had to wait for two hours until the doors opened. After they allowed us in, it took them an extra seven hours to process me.
How I Came to Be There
That morning, I went to court in my formal suit. The judge accepted my release on a surety bond, but since the process of posting the bond would take time, I had to go to prison for 24 hours. The bond was registered in my case file, and the prison officials knew that I would be released the next day, i.e., that I had not committed a serious offence. Even if I had, I would not have deserved the insults to which I was subjected.
Repeated Insults
Any soldier who came across prisoners directed a barrage of insults at us, myself included. They showed no regard for common civility or the age of individual prisoners. I had imagined that spending 24 hours in prison in the Quarantine Ward must not be too difficult, but once I was inside, every moment was a nightmare.
Cash Card instead of Cash
Immediately after we arrived, we were told to hand over everything that we had to be put in a safe deposit box. They took away our watches, keys, pendants, prayer beads, etc. Then we were told that we could not carry cash into the prison.
Pasargad Bank has a branch in the entrance of the prison. It is open from morning till 8 at night. Prisoners give it cash and receive a card with which to buy necessities inside prison. We got our cards.
They Cut My Expensive Jacket into Pieces
Then we had to change clothes. When they told us to take off our clothes, I could not believe my eyes when they threw my socks into the garbage. Then my shoes to followed the socks. They were worth 500 thousand tomans [around $170] and I would have gladly donated them to a needy person rather than throw them away.
But it became even more interesting when they cut my one-million-toman jacket into pieces with scissors. When I asked why, they answered, “You might have hidden drugs or something else inside it.” To my surprise, they destroyed the jacket and threw it in the trashcan as well. At least they could have given it to a needy person.
They could set up a “wall of kindness” outside the prison and hang these items on it. Who is it going to help when they cut up a jacket and throw it away? My bail was registered in my case file, and the prison official knew that I would be released the next day. They could have put my clothes in a storeroom and given them back to me the next day. Lacking a storeroom for the possessions of people like me, who are in prison for a short time, is mismanagement. There is no justification for it.
Hair Cut Short
The next step was the barber. This time, I did not yield. I am not young anymore. For years I have lived with long hair and a long beard. How could I explain to my friends, neighbors, and relatives how I ended up with a short hair overnight? I would have lost face in the neighborhood. I was supposed to spend only one night in the Quarantine Ward, not months or years. Why did they have to cut my hair and beard? After my persistent protests, the warden kindly instructed the barber to cut my hair only slightly and to take care not to make it too disheveled and ugly. In the end, of course, he cut it too short.
Useless Bank Card
After seven hours, I got to the ward. After a tiring and tiresome day, the opportunity to buy water and a piece bread did not seem an unusual expectation, but I was told that I could not buy anything because the Pasargad Bank cash card would not be activated for three days.
But the Bank Makes a Lot of Money
Something like two or three hundred inmates enter this prison every day. They give Pasargad Bank all their money, but the bank keeps the money for three days and they cannot touch it. A look at the numbers would show that the bank makes a lot of money this way. Anyhow, I was hungry and thirsty and, were it not for the kindness of other prisoners, God knows what would have happened to this old man.
One of the surprises in this prison is that the water is only available for two hours a day. It is not even drinkable water. You can use the bathroom only during these two hours. What should a prisoner do if he has diarrhea or another digestive ailment? To solve this problem, we had to buy mineral water. But the bank card was not yet activated.
At last, the dark prison night turned into dawn. My bail was accepted, but then new problems began. Prisoners are only released at night, and the roster is announced at 8:30.
Burning the Bank Card
The moment that your name is announced for release, your bank card is burned. That’s the same card that I could not use to buy anything. I could not even donate it to the prisoners who had kindly bought me water and food in the past 24 hours to thank them for their kindness.
The Cash Is Not Returned
After the names of the prisoners to be released were announced, I went to retrieve my personal effects and money, but the bank and the safe deposit boxes are only available until 8pm, and names had not been announced till 8:30. I could not retrieve my keys, watch, money, and other belongings. The prisoner is released into the dark desert hoping that a charitable driver will take him to town. Let us assume that I had not told my wife that I was going to prison. What could I tell her if, after 24 hours, I returned home in the middle of the night in slippers, without a jacket, with my hair cut short and without money and other belongings? What would happen to our married life after so many years?
Slippers Cost a Lot of Money
Around 300 new inmates enter this big prison every day, meaning that 300 pairs of plastic slippers are needed every day. If a pair of slippers cost 5,000 tomans [around $1.70] then every day they must spend 1.5 million tomans [just under $500]. It means that every month they must spend around 45 million tomans [around $15 thousand] for the plastic slippers that the prisoners wear when they return home. Add to it the very low-quality underwear and the towel that they gave us for one night. This is very costly for the prison and does not help temporary detainees either.
Anyhow, I left prison at 10pm and returned home with great difficulty, without my money or my personal effects. The keys to my office and my desk are still at the prison. My money is still in the prison branch of Pasargad Bank, and during the holy month of Ramadan [when I am fasting], I am not in the position travel all the way to the prison. There are quite a number of prisoners in the same situation.
Now, imagine that the prisoner is from Hamedan, Isfahan, Qom or any town other than Tehran. When he is released in the middle of the night, he must stay in the desert till morning, waiting for the bank and prison officials to return. Or he can go home with much difficulty and return later. But many prisoners do not get a chance to return to retrieve their money and belongings. This makes a nice income for the bank. What is interesting that Pasargad Bank branches in the city are not accountable for your money and you must go to the prison branch to get it.
I wish Pasargad Bank would be held accountable for this behavior. If they issue a cash card, they should make it easy for the inmate to use. When leaving prison, an automatic teller machine should return the remainder to the prisoner. If there was any will to pay the prisoners’ money back, finding a logical way to do so would not be difficult.
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