Qarchak Varamin Prison is actually a deserted henhouse consisting of 10 warehouses turned into a women’s detention center after 2011.
The number of prisoners in warehouse number 4 is around 270 individuals, while there are only 90 beds in this location and the prison cannot bear a larger capacity. There is no room for prisoners to sit and eat a meal.
Ten mothers are imprisoned in hall number 8. All ten are currently pregnant. There are also 20 small children and infants from under one month old to three years of age.
Hall number 1 is allocated for death row prisoners currently numbering at 63. Prison authorities transfer individuals to this hall in order to harass them or separate them from other prisoners and/or place them under 24 hours surveillance. Death row prisoners consume a type of medicine that is usually given to dogs. They are usually very tired, inactive and asleep most of the time. This hall is known as the ‘Hall of the dead’.
Prisoners are all deprived of any heating or cooling systems. The prison has no running water. The chlorine level of the water, brought with tankers, is so high that it has bleached the prisoners’ clothing. The water is very salty and bitter and 90% of the prisoners are forced to drink this water as they are financially unable to purchase any bottled water.
There is no hot water most of the day. All the halls have a total of twelve bathrooms that are very dirty and low on hygiene.
The prison food is very low quality. At times the prisoners are given only one type of food for three consecutive months. The existing grain in the food is always uncooked. The prison store has nothing edible for the prisoners to buy. When sleeping at nights the lights do not go off. The prisoners are all cut off from the outside world. Families are not allowed to provide clothing for the prisoners, while AIDS and Hepatitis is running rampant amongst the prisoners. Various types of narcotics are very abundant and easily sold. Prisoners are searched very rigorously on their entrance into the prison and directly taken to the quarantine section for four nights.
The prison clinic provides no kind of medical care for prisoners. A dentist comes only once every three months and an ophthalmologist once every six months. The prisoners themselves are forced to provide for the costs of medical care.
