Originally published in Farsi at Radio Zamaneh on February 18, 2024
Hamed Farmand, President of Children of Imprisoned Parents International and a member of the Global Prison Nursery Network
This report continues a series of articles on the conditions of children and mothers in Iranian prisons, previously published by Radio Zamaneh about Kachooyi Prison (October 19, 2023), Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz (October 26, 2023), Qarchak Prison (November 27, 2023), and Urmia Prison (January 18, 2024).
A female prisoner, hoping to elicit sympathy from the judge, brought her three-and-a-half-year-old child into the women’s ward of Lakan Prison to accompany her on the day of her court hearing. A few months later, she went on temporary release with her child and settled in an independent home with her two other children, who had been living with her ex-husband. However, the woman, a mother of three children—two teenagers and one young child—was re-incarcerated for repeated offenses. It remains unclear what happened to her children, who were left alone at home at the time of her arrest.
This true story is one of hundreds of examples of children’s rights violations and the lack of a support system for them in Iran. The Iranian legal and judicial system has failed to protect children subjected to violence and abuse by their fathers, allowed young children to be exposed to the harmful environment of prison, and lacks structured laws to account for parenthood when addressing criminal cases. At best, leniency in sentencing is granted only if it appeals to a judge’s sympathy.
This same legal and judicial system also offers no solutions for addressing the root causes of social harm or preventing repeat offenses. Moreover, research by the Children of Imprisoned Parents International, published in January and February 2022, and the observations of former inmates, indicate that parenthood—especially motherhood—has been used as a tool to pressure and control prisoners.
In this report, I assess the conditions of children in the women’s ward of Rasht Central Prison—Lakan. The report is based on research conducted by the Children of Imprisoned Parents International, official documents, reports from human rights organizations and civil activists available since 2006, and an interview with Atena Daemi, a human rights activist and former inmate of Lakan Prison in Rasht.
The Sky Over Some Prisons Is Darker
The lack of respect for prisoners’ rights and inhumane treatment of inmates are recurring themes in human rights reports and eyewitness accounts. However, the assumption that violations of prisoners’ rights occur uniformly across all Iranian prisons does not accurately capture the systematic violence and discrimination against prisoners in these facilities. Inmates held in prisons that, for various reasons, have escaped media attention are often more vulnerable to violence. Similarly, prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes are sometimes overlooked by activists and media or labeled as “dangerous criminals.” Among this group, awareness of prisoners’ rights and civil rights is notably lower. Gender-based discrimination and violence further differentiate the experiences of violence in prisons and against inmates. Lakan Prison in Rasht, specifically its women’s ward (known as the Center for Rehabilitation and Education and the Women’s Prison of Gilan Province), is a prime example.
According to official reports, the women’s ward of Lakan Prison in Rasht was inaugurated in July 2007. However, some women’s rights activists mentioned this prison earlier, in a report published in December 2006 as part of the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women” brochure.
These reports state that the total number of prisoners in Gilan Province exceeded 4,500 in 2006 and reached approximately 8,000 by 2014. The most recent figure, from 2018, indicated that 8,000 individuals in the province were imprisoned for unintentional crimes alone. Assuming the percentage of female prisoners has remained constant at about 4%, there are likely over 500 female inmates currently held across Gilan Province. According to Atena Daemi, during her incarceration at Lakan Prison in 2021, there were about 120 inmates in the women’s ward, with an additional 200 on temporary release. She added, “Shortly after my release, all those on leave were returned to prison, and new inmates were also being admitted.” Based on her observations, the women’s ward held twice its intended capacity. Judicial authorities in the province confirmed in 2006 and 2014 that the number of prisoners was double the capacity of Gilan’s prisons. On February 10, 2022, Daemi described the ward’s conditions in an interview: “The wards were like long hallways filled with beds. The beds were arranged like graves, spaced only 47 centimeters apart. There was no room for inmates to carry out any activities.”
Daemi also noted that during her time at Lakan Prison, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, prison officials did not provide free hand soap to inmates. As a result, those unable to afford soap could not maintain personal hygiene. Currently, prisoners are given limited hygiene packages, which remain insufficient for maintaining proper cleanliness.
In Lakan Women’s Prison, access to personal hygiene is not solely tied to poverty and economic conditions. According to Atena Daemi, who has also experienced imprisonment in Evin and Qarchak prisons, while the quality of food in Lakan is better than in Qarchak, the portion sizes are “exceptionally small.” For many inmates in Lakan, purchasing the limited and overpriced products from the prison store is simply not an option. Access to drinking water was only made possible during Daemi’s imprisonment, when she used her access to media to advocate for and arrange a water purification system for inmates.
The women’s ward in Lakan Prison lacks sports facilities. Moreover, many inmates cannot afford suitable footwear, such as proper shoes or sandals, to navigate the wet and slippery prison yard, making it difficult for them to use outdoor spaces for walking or exercise. The prison also lacks recreational and educational resources, with cultural activities primarily limited to religious programs.
In this environment, which fosters conflict and violence, young children and pregnant women are also held. Daemi recounted the story of a three-and-a-half-year-old child who witnessed adult fights and later repeated the offensive language they overheard. She also mentioned that until 2018, executions were carried out in the octagonal courtyard within the women’s ward of Lakan Prison. Afterward, the space was repurposed for punishing inmates. In all these instances, children held in the women’s ward were present, witnessing these events.
From Forced Labor in Entrepreneurship Workshops to Child Trafficking in Prison
“Women are there who become pregnant, commit crimes, give birth at the prison’s expense, and sell their children in prison.” This is what Atena Daemi, a former inmate of the women’s ward in Lakan Prison, shared with me. The issue of child trafficking, which was also documented in an investigative report by the Children of Imprisoned Parents International about Qarchak Prison, highlights just one aspect of the vulnerable situation faced by mothers and children in Lakan. As mentioned earlier, poverty—often intertwined with addiction and drug trafficking—affects many incarcerated women in Lakan, and their children, both inside and outside prison, grapple with similar challenges.
While incarcerated women in Lakan endure these conditions, government officials claim that Gilan Province ranks third in women’s economic participation. At the same time, the province ranks second in the number of women imprisoned for unintentional offenses. These offenses are often financial in nature and, for women, are frequently tied to a lack of awareness about legal matters, such as taking on their husbands’ financial obligations, economic inequality in the competitive market, and indebtedness.
What does the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran do to preserve or improve the economic standing of women, apart from imprisoning entrepreneurial women and punishing the impoverished?
News related to Lakan Women’s Prison in Rasht is often tied to keywords like “entrepreneurship” and “vocational training.” However, Atena Daemi, a former inmate of Lakan Prison, refers to the economic activities of women in the prison as “forced labor” and explains that prison authorities focus all their efforts on “keeping the workshops running.” According to this human rights activist, inmates working in the prison’s dot-painting and carpet-weaving workshops labor from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Until the summer of 2021, these women earned at most 1 million tomans annually (equivalent to $23.75, based on the exchange rate in the summer of 2021). After Daemi exposed this situation, their pay increased to 300,000–400,000 tomans per month (equivalent to $7 to $9.5, based on the average exchange rate in 2022 and 2023).
Daemi noted that many of the women workers in prison complained of back, hand, and eye pain. Currently, some of these women, after returning to their wards, continue doing the intricate dot-painting work until lights out—around 9 p.m.—to raise their income to approximately 1 million tomans ($23.67) per month. In addition to mothers who have been imprisoned at various times with their children, many of the incarcerated women have children outside the prison. A significant number of them rely on their prison income to support their children.
Children’s Share of Being with Their Mothers: Absolute Deprivation
Contrary to the strict recommendations of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules), children in Iranian prisons, including Lakan Prison in Rasht, are treated like prisoners. (Rule 49)
As of February 2024, no children or pregnant women are reportedly being held in the women’s ward of Lakan Prison. However, according to official statements, approximately half of the incarcerated women in Gilan Province are likely married, and pregnancy resulting from conjugal visits is a conceivable occurrence. Additionally, like other prisons, Lakan continues to admit new inmates. Between February 2022 and now, at least three children under the age of one have been held in the women’s ward with their mothers. Two of these children were released with their mothers, while one child and mother were transferred to Qarchak Prison, infamously referred to as “hell.”
Both official and unofficial reports mention the existence of a “nursery” in Lakan Prison’s women’s ward. Atena Daemi described this “nursery” as “a very small, dark room with a low ceiling” located in the so-called “financial ward.” After the COVID-19 pandemic, this ward was repurposed as a quarantine area, and the nursery is now used as an addiction recovery room for incarcerated individuals with substance dependencies.
Furthermore, the prison lacks educational tools and recreational facilities for children. According to Daemi, when the nursery was shut down, “a tiny slide and a few broken, unusable toys” were moved to storage.
The food provided to children, breastfeeding mothers, and pregnant women is no different from what other inmates receive. Daemi observed the behavioral effects of the crowded, unsanitary, and resource-deprived prison environment on a three-and-a-half-year-old child during her time there: “When she first arrived, she was calm. But after a while, she became so anxious that she would scream and cry at the slightest incident.”
Human rights and child rights activists have proposed various measures to address the situation of children and incarcerated parents. These include legislative reforms, decriminalizing social issues such as addiction, improving economic and social infrastructure, and prioritizing the best interests of the child when sentencing parents.
One proposed solution to preserve the parent-child relationship and reduce the harm of incarceration on children is implementing alternative punishments, such as supervised economic activities outside prison. However, governments must not exploit these legal options for financial gain or violate human rights. Linking electronic monitoring with financial obligations and forcing prisoners into “mandatory labor” under the guise of alternative sentencing constitutes an abuse of the law and a violation of human rights.