Head of Iran’s Prison Organizations has called the prisoners “cheap labor” and that they can be used by the private sector.
In a visit with the East Azerbaijan Governor on March 5,Mohammad Mehdi Haj Mohammadi said that prisoners were cheap labor and could be used by the private sector.
“Prisoners are cheap labor and can be used by the private sector”, Haj Mohammadi said in comments carried by the state-run ISNA News Agency, adding that it would be a “win-win” situation for both prisoners and the private sector.
Haj Mohammadi was appointed as the Head of Iran’s Prison Organizations in June 2020.
According to official sources, there are over 200,000 prisoners in Iran’s prisons though the actual numbers are much higher. These figures do not include detainees and those who have yet to receive sentences. In addition to being subjected to atrocious conditions, mistreatment, and torture reports indicate that more than 50% of Iranian prisoners are forced into cheap labor.
According to a report from Isfahan, prisoners are forced to work in deplorable conditions in the city’s prison.
“They have ruined the lives of the prisoners. They take youth from them and destroy them. They create a catastrophe every day. They use prisoners like slaves,” a source said.
“From Isfahan prisons alone, 3,000 prisoners are brought out of prison for forced labor, working in the heat and cold. They use prisoners with the promise of leave and release.”
In a recent case prisoners were used in groups of 30 to paint street curbs. The prisoners have to bend for eight hours a day and finally they are given some food which is not edible at all.”
“In addition, they distribute methadone to prisoners every morning to work harder,” the source added.
In August 2020, there were numerous reports that showed prison guards impose forced labor on prisoners in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Qarchak Prison in Varamin, Central Karaj Prison, and prisoners in the northern province of Gilan.
In a report from the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, also known as Fashafuyeh Prison, located 30 kilometers south of Tehran, some prisoners are assigned to do work in the prison workshops with little or no pay.
For example in Evin Prison, prisoners in Section 7 are forced to work in the sewing workshop for only 20,000 tomans (around 80 cents) a week, doing eight hours of work a day. These prisoners are transferred from the Greater Tehran Penitentiary to Evin Prison on the condition that they work at Evin Prison. They prefer Evin Prison in northern Tehran because their families can visit them without traveling the long distance to the Greater Tehran.
