Utilization of Prisoners in Ardabil for Urban Services in Exchange for Imprisonment Punishment

Ahmad Karimi, the legal affairs manager of Ardabil Municipality, announced that based on the 'new Islamic Penal Code' and as part of a program for alternative public services and imprisonment, some prisoners in this city will be employed 'for free' by Ardabil Municipality. According to a report on Saturday, December 7, from the 'Tasnim' news agency, Mr. Karimi made this statement during a coordination meeting on 'the employment of convicted prisoners introduced by the judiciary in the services and cleaning affairs of Ardabil Municipality.' This legal official in Ardabil Municipality stated that the order for employing these prisoners was communicated to the municipality by the Ardabil governorate. As Mr. Karimi mentioned, the basis for this communication is the 'executive regulation of Article 79 of the Islamic Penal Code,' which was approved in September 2014 during a cabinet meeting. The executive regulation of Article 79 of the Islamic Penal Code has been approved in 14 articles and specifies the substitution of public services for imprisonment. This regulation allows many government agencies, institutions, and organizations to use the labor of prisoners for free after coordination with the judiciary. Services include 'guarding,' 'caretaking,' 'cleaning public places,' 'repairing and cleaning public vehicles,' 'midwifery,' 'nursing,' and 'caring for the elderly, disabled, and children.' Mr. Karimi also added that based on this, 'Ardabil Municipality can utilize the presence of convicts in urban service and cleaning tasks just like other organizations and institutions that accept these services.' He expressed hope that this action could be 'a step towards the proper reform and training of prisoners and the greater health of society.' Previously, on November 1 of this year, the head of the Iranian Prisons Organization and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that 'employment of prisoners outside of prison, conditional release, suspension of punishment, and archiving of criminal cases' are among the alternative punishments to imprisonment. At that time, Tasnim news agency quoted Asghar Jahangir, stating that following the Iranian leader's emphasis on 'reducing the prison population,' a special working group was immediately formed by the head of the judiciary with the presence of high-ranking judicial officials. Ayatollah Khamenei described the increase in the number of prisoners as 'regrettable' during a meeting with judicial officials in July of this year and called for a focus on various solutions to remedy it. The Iranian leader even referred to the 'negative consequences of the increase in financial prisoners and drug offenders' during this meeting and requested that new proposals and solutions be presented to address this increase. Recently, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice, announced that 'in Iran, out of every 100,000 people, 269 are prisoners, which is higher than the global average and concerning.' The high number of prisoners in Iran and the leader's emphasis on this issue have prompted the judiciary and some government institutions to also use alternative punishments in issuing judicial rulings.