Israel prison authorities deliberately move sick detainees around to spread diseases in prisons, rights group says

Israeli prison authorities are deliberately transferring sick prisoners between prisons and detention centres, with the aim of spreading diseases and epidemics among prisoners, according to prisoner testimonies, the Palestinian Prisoners Club has said.

The rights group explained in a statement issued yesterday that these practices “contributed to the escalation of the health catastrophe facing thousands of prisoners due to the spread of scabies, which has been a major cause of the deaths of prisoners in recent months.”

The statement cited prisoner testimonies, stating that “the occupation deliberately transferred prisoners suffering from an infectious disease without a clear diagnosis from Megiddo Prison to Negev Prison, which led to prisoners in Negev Prison contracting the disease.”

“Negev prisoners showed symptoms including severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, and extreme emaciation. This is in addition to suffering from scabies, which is a double threat to their lives,” added the Prisoners Club.

It accused the Israel Prison Service (IPS) of “deliberately reinforcing the measures it has imposed on prisoners since the beginning of the genocide, which are the primary causes of the emergence of diseases and epidemics.”

As of early April, over 9,900 Palestinians, including 3,498 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, at least 400 children, and 27 female prisoners, have been held in Israel’s prisons and detention centres, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

The organisation has documented the deaths of 63 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons since the beginning of the genocidal war against the Palestinians in October 2023, as a result of severe torture and medical neglect, according to Palestinian human rights organisations.

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