Ramallah -

"A large Israeli force stormed the room, beat us, screamed and cursed us, then transferred all the female prisoners in the rain to isolation without allowing us to carry anything. The isolation room was disgusting and cold," with these words that fail to convey the reality of the occupation's crimes, describing the female prisoner Shuruq al-Badan is what she and 5 other female prisoners were subjected to last Tuesday in Damon Prison, near the city of Haifa.

Shurouk was released late yesterday, Thursday, after 3 days of isolation in cold cells, as she ended her 14-month sentence, to bring happiness to her home in the town of Tuqu', near Bethlehem, in the central West Bank.

This was not the first repression that Shurouq and the rest of the female prisoners were subjected to in Room No. 9 in the female prisoners section of Damon Prison, where they were subjected to repression against the backdrop of their celebration of the shooting attack in Jerusalem last Friday, in response to the occupation killing 9 Palestinians and wounding dozens during its storming of the Jenin camp in the northern West Bank. .

In her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Shurouk told Al-Jazeera Net, "The cells were very narrow and cold, and there were only two beds in them, and because we were 3 prisoners, one of us slept on the floor, and despite the extreme cold, we were not allowed to enter more than one blanket, even pillows were forbidden."

Al-Badan praises God for her freedom, but she says with great sadness, "They took me out of isolation directly and did not allow me to say goodbye to the rest of the female prisoners in the police station."

The conditions of isolation that Shurooq spoke about, despite their difficulty, seem lighter than those faced by the prisoner, Yasmine Shaaban, in the isolation section of Al-Ramle prison, which is designated for isolating Israeli prisoners accused of major crimes such as murder and drugs.

The Israeli occupation authorities do not allow the lawyers of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs to visit the prisoner, Yasmine, especially since she announced an open hunger strike since her isolation.


isolation as a punishment

Usually, the decision to transfer female prisoners to isolation is taken by prison security officers, where the prisoner is brought to court before a group of officers and a penalty is imposed on him, usually ranging from a week to 6 months.

The isolation occupation authorities use punishment against the prisoners, and it takes several forms, the least of which is what the female prisoners were subjected to at the beginning, which is converting the rooms into collective isolation cells by withdrawing all the prisoners’ belongings and their daily necessities of electrical tools, and nothing remains in the rooms except clothes and blankets.

In this case, the section is completely closed, and the female prisoners are prevented from going out to the courtyards or showers outside the rooms. The representative of the section is the link between the administration and the female prisoners, and is usually accompanied by other penalties, such as those imposed on female prisoners now, such as preventing family visits or even just phone calls for a month. complete.

The second type is isolation inside the prison but outside the police station, as happened with Shorouq Al-Badan and the rest of the female prisoners in Room 9, where they were transferred to isolation cells in Damoun Prison.

The cells usually contain only one bed cover, and one change of clothes that is kept in the prison storeroom and given to the prisoner at the time of showering.

The third type, is solitary confinement outside the prison, and is used to increase the punishment, as happened with the prisoner, Yasmine Shaaban.

The danger in this type of isolation is the transfer of the prisoner to criminal isolation, and the administration treats her like criminal women arrested for murder and drug crimes, according to the released prisoner Mona Qadan, who was subjected to this type of isolation last December.

In her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Mona Qadan said, "I was transferred to the isolation of female criminals in Gilboa prison for 7 days. The cell was very narrow and very cold, and the section was separated from the rest of the sections."

The occupation authorities do not allow lawyers to visit the prisoner, Yasmine Shaaban, after she announced her hunger strike (Palestinian Information Center)

Security estimates

In all of the previous cases, isolation is the punishment, but in other cases, the prisoner or prisoner is transferred to isolation without any violations against the prison administration, but only based on security estimates, as is the case in the isolation of the prisoner, Fadwa Hamouda, from the occupied city of Jerusalem, who was isolated for months. Solitary.

In this context, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Qaddoura Fares, says that this type of isolation allows the prisoner, at the time of his transfer to the cell rooms, to take all his belongings and life necessities, as is the case in the regular department rooms, but the difference is that he is alone.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Fares says that this type of isolation is used by the occupation against prisoners who have an influence on the rest of the prisoners, or in cases that carry a security dimension, such as escaping from prisons, where prisoners are subjected to isolation for years.

The decision of isolation in this case is taken by the district commander of the occupation army, and it is renewed every 6 months, after the prisoner is presented to a security committee from the Prisons Administration.

The liberated Ataf Alyan: I spent 4 continuous years in isolation during my 10-year detention period (Al-Jazeera)

psychological effects

The liberated prisoner Ataf Elyan is one of the female prisoners who went through this experience, as the occupation forces arrested her for the first time in 1987, to spend 10 years in prison, including 4 continuous years in isolation, according to what she said in a previous interview with Al Jazeera Net.

At that time, the prisoner, Alian, was transferred to isolation based on security assessments of the seriousness of her continued detention among the female prisoners, and she was the one who went through the first individual strikes in prisons to protest against the conditions of her detention.

Isolation leaves very difficult psychological effects on the female prisoners, as Mona Qadan says, as it is "the most difficult stage of detention," especially solitary confinement, where the female detainee remains for days alone in a completely empty cell, and the difficulty of this is made by not specifying the isolation period, which can extend for a month, as happened with her in 2012. In an attempt to abuse the female prisoners and break their will.