Palestinians face medical negligence in Israeli prisons as diseases spread, says rights group

Data from Israel’s Megiddo Prison warns of a health disaster due to the continued spread of scabies as well as other highly contagious diseases, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club has reported.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the organisation said that the dangerous health conditions for prisoners at Megiddo Prison, where Walid Ahmed died due to medical negligence, affect child inmates as well. Ahmed was one of hundreds of detained children distributed across three central prisons in the occupation state: Megiddo, Ofer and Damon.

Testimonies from child prisoners recently released from Megiddo Prison claim that the majority of child prisoners suffer from health problems and face difficult detention conditions.

The prisoners’ organisation accused the Israeli Prison Service of deliberately depriving prisoners, including children and women, of quality food, clean clothes and personal hygiene items, as well as adequate exposure to light and ventilation, all of which could limit the spread of disease.

Scabies, it added, is endemic in Megiddo and Negev Prisons. Disease and medical crimes, through the total denial of treatment, have become the most prominent tool for killing and injuring prisoners, alongside torture and regular abuse and humiliation.

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