Request for Divorce from 10,000 Spouses of Prisoners in Iran in 2016

The head of Iran's Prison Organization and Security Measures announced the identification of 10,000 spouses of prisoners in 2016 who sought divorce. According to a report on Thursday, June 1, by Nasim Online, Asghar Jahangir made these remarks during the 19th 'Support Festival for Families of Prisoners'. Jahangir added that the main reason for the divorce requests from the spouses of these 10,000 prisoners was the lack of a family head, which the organization attempted to prevent from leading to family breakdowns by 'holding counseling classes'. He also mentioned that in 2016, 2,500 children of prisoners were at risk of addiction, over 700 others had dropped out of school, and 825 families of prisoners faced specific issues such as chronic illnesses, children running away from home, and simultaneous imprisonment of parents. According to the head of the Prison Organization, individuals at risk of addiction did not 'fall' with the help of the Welfare Committee, and efforts were made to return dropouts to school. As reported by Fars News Agency, this official pointed out the problems that arise for families of prisoners after the loss of the family head, stating that the organization allocated 12 billion tomans last year to help solve some of their issues. While discussing the challenges faced by families of prisoners in Iran and efforts to address them, he had previously announced that the number of prisoners in Iran had increased by about 333% from 1985 to 2016. The head of the Prison Organization also stated that '64% of prisoners {in Iran} are married and 70% of them are under 40 years old'. Iranian officials have been implementing various programs aimed at reducing the prison population in Iran for years, but these programs have not been very successful. In addition to the problems faced by families of prisoners, the spokesperson for the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Parliament recently stated that issuing death sentences for all individuals involved in drug trafficking effectively trains 'soldiers' for drug gangs by pushing the children of those executed into drug sales. Hassan Norouzi added that the children of executed families are forced into drugs due to 'poverty'. He further noted that 'many children of the executed... have become isolated from society, and no agency has employed them, and no one is even willing to marry them'.