Water shutdown on the Central Prison of Zahedan is threatening the lives of prisoners.
For more than a week, the whole prison compound does not have any water and all inmates are incarcerated under horrible conditions, especially in light of the vicious outbreak of the coronavirus and infection of inmates in this prison.
Several inmates have reportedly died due to Covid-19 infection and several others in critical conditions have been transferred out to Bou Ali and Khatam hospitals in Zahedan.
Prisoners who inquired about the reason for the lengthy water cut-off have not yet received any answers.
The number of prisoners incarcerated in the Central Prison of Zahedan is several times its capacity, something that violates social distancing guidelines and accelerated the spread of the virus among the inmates who are deprived of the most basic medical and sanitary resources to fight the virus. They do not have any masks, disinfectants or detergents.
The sanitary conditions in Iranian prisons are appalling. Prisons are overcrowded and inmates sleep on the floor, in the corridors and even just outside the restroom.
Other reports from this prison indicate that the deputy warden Malek Jamshidi has organized a Mafia gang inside the prison to distribute drugs among ordinary prisoners, and to harass, threaten and suppress the political prisoners.
Malek Jamshidi is the deputy Warden of the Central Prison of Zahedan and a senior Intelligence Department official in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
Last March, an inmate called Mostafa Kamali lost his life to the coronavirus in Ward 7 of the Central Prison of Zahedan but prison authorities announced the reason for his death as drug overdose.
