Rouhani's Deputy: 200 Children Are in Prison with Their Mothers

The Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs emphasized that women's prisons are "not in a desirable condition" and reported that 200 children are living in Iranian prisons with their mothers. According to the state news agency IRNA, Shahindokht Molaverdi stated on Tuesday, May 4, that 13 proposals have been submitted to the government to improve prison conditions. On April 14, Ms. Molaverdi had described the situation of children living with their mothers in women's prisons as "appalling." She emphasized that these children are kept in a "quarantine-like" manner after entering nurseries and welfare centers and suffer "significant damage in terms of personality and development." The ILNA news agency had previously reported that according to the prison organization’s regulations, children can stay with their mothers in prison until the age of three, but according to the "Prisoners' Rights Defense Association," sometimes children live in prison until the age of six. In her remarks on Tuesday, Ms. Molaverdi also announced the establishment of a kindergarten in Isfahan prison with the help of benefactors and mentioned that the kindergarten in Qarchak prison was "about to be inaugurated." Elham Aminzadeh, the legal deputy, and Shahindokht Molaverdi had visited Qarchak women's prison in Varamin in February 2015. According to Ms. Molaverdi, 20 children live in Qarchak women's prison with their mothers. Meanwhile, the website "Kalemeh," close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported the "appalling" conditions of women’s prison in Qarchak Varamin, stating that the prison is "essentially a large hall with a high ceiling lacking cells, where two thousand women live without the slightest sanitary facilities in cold and heat." The website also referred to issues such as "salty water, insufficient sanitary facilities, overcrowding, beatings by male guards, and lack of women's hygiene products" in this prison. In another part of her remarks, Ms. Molaverdi said, "The number of female prisoners compared to men is five percent, but even this small number is significant for an Islamic society." Zahra Baniyanian, advisor to the Secretary-General of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters on women and family issues, reported that the number of female prisoners in 2013 was seven thousand and 377. In this context, the conditions of Qarchak prison are described as "unsanitary, inhumane, and unbearable."