Increase in Prison Population Due to Judges' Preference for Imprisonment and Temporary Detention

A member of the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly reported a "4.5 percent increase" in the number of prisoners and temporary detentions in the country in 2017, attributing the cause to the "interest of some judges" in imprisonment or temporary detention. Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, in an interview with the official website of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (House of the Nation), stated that according to statistics released by the Prisons Organization, "it is clear that the number of prisoners in 2017 compared to 2016 has increased by about 4.5 percent". He added, "It is evident that some judges have not paid attention to the implementation of the law and the directive of the head of the judiciary regarding reducing imprisonment." According to the representative of Bahar and Kaboudar Ahang in the parliament, "some judges are interested in using imprisonment or temporary detention," and this year, "even the statistics of temporary detentions have significantly increased." He did not specify the extent of the increase in temporary detentions this year but identified "the views of some judges" as the reason for the unsuccessful implementation of the law aimed at reducing imprisonment in 2017, stating that citizens have repeatedly complained to the parliament about this issue. According to Pourmokhtar, some judges are "distrustful" of using alternative punishments to imprisonment, and "when there is no oversight and no questions are asked of judges, this problem will certainly not be resolved." He suggested that offenders be employed in "certain institutions" instead of being imprisoned to reduce social family issues and the economic consequences of imprisonment. The statements of this parliament member regarding the resistance of some judges against the law aimed at reducing imprisonment come while in July 2013, the head of the judiciary issued a directive to organize prisoners and reduce the prison population. Sadegh Larijani, in his directive, stated that this directive was issued "due to the ineffectiveness of prisons, especially short-term imprisonments in deterring and rehabilitating offenders, the marginalization of criminals from society, and the numerous social, cultural, and health problems in prisons due to the increase in the prison population, aiming to reduce the serious harms and damages of prisons to individuals, the families of prisoners, and society." However, neglecting this directive after four years reached a point where in December of this year, Asghar Jahangir, the head of the Iranian Prisons Organization, stated that between 10 to 15 percent of prisoners in Iran are known as "floor sleepers," and the average space per prisoner is between eight to eight and a half square meters. He also announced last year that the number of prisoners in Iran was 200,000, stating that "this number is nearly three times the standard capacity and the situation is not acceptable." Hamid Shahriari, the deputy head of the judiciary, also mentioned in June 2016 that there are 225,000 prisoners in the country, saying, "It is not appropriate that we rank eighth in the world in terms of the number of prisoners." In recent years, multiple reports have been published regarding prisoners' lack of access to medical and health services, which judiciary officials have denied.