Ramallah / PNN- Earlier today The Palestinian Prisoners Society of Tulkarem highlighted the deteriorating conditions for 37 detainees arrested and detained in Jalame detention center.
They are suffering under difficult circumstances brought about by the poor management of the prison.
The statement was made by a PPS lawyer who managed to enter the facility and meet with many of the prisoners. They gave him detailed explanations of the circumstances of their arrest and detention, and their desperate living conditions.
These Palestinian political prisoners live, as so many do, without basic dignity. They describe being denied simple sanitary conditions such as clean clothes and bedding. They must remain in the same filthy clothes throughout their investigation, which often leads to health problems and skin conditions. The classrooms at the prison lack ventilation and electric fans, which means many of them cannot stand to attend classes.
The quality of the meals mean that very few political prisoners can eat the food they are given. The food becomes rancid due to the amount of time that passes between being prepared and served. Lunch will be prepared at ten in the morning and remain lying on the ground of the kitchen an hour before being served, making it a health risk. The prisoners also complain of meals that consist of only dried foods and of being denied basics such as salt.
During a recent visit to Jalame the Palestinian Prisoners Society lawyer complained to the Israeli prison administration. He said he could hear the screams of Palestinians in interrogation, and also described round the clock insults and beatings.
The detainees are allowed to smoke and have to a toilet only twice a day. They are also sporadically moved from room to room during which they are forced stand against the wall with their legs open and their hands up. Some are also forced to kneel and bend their heads to the ground.
The Palestinians have seen a decline in health conditions and an increase in cases of torture and medical neglect. A better quality of food is not provided to ill patients who are not allowed timely access to a doctor. There is only one nurse to register the names of the prisoners, and the doctor only comes just once per week. Even then he will examine them without offering any real treatment.
These abuses reported at the Jalame detention centre in the northern West Bank are only the beginning. The arrest of the prisoners begins only the first round of their investigation, prior to presenting them to the military courts. Many times the only outcome of the courts is the extension of their imprisonment. The PPS reports that the basic humanitarian law is not applied in Jalame, as is the case for Palestinians throughout the Israeli prison system.
