For several weeks, prisoners’ relatives have been denouncing on social media the outbreak of numerous skin diseases in Lebanon’s prisons, especially in Roumieh (the largest prison in the country).

Denouncing the atrocious health conditions of the prison environment, these images show men with pimples from head to toe and others suffering from gaping and pustular wounds on the arms, legs or soles of the feet. Diseases are “due to the quality of the water that is dirty and polluted in Roumieh,” and “the lack of care,” according to some prisoners who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour.

“Skin diseases are part of everyday life here, especially scabies,” said Roni*, a man incarcerated in Roumieh. “We spent several days without water [in November]. When water is available, it is dirty and has a red color,” he said. “I can’t afford to buy bottled drinking water. I try to filter the water in the prison with cloth and then boil it before drinking it,” he continued.

Jad*, another prisoner in Roumieh, said that he “had to use expensive drinking water from the prison’s grocery store because he couldn’t flush the toilet” during the cuts. “They never clean here, we do,” he said.

As for treatment, whatever the disease, it is almost always nonexistent, according to the prisoners. “There is no medicine, and if there is, it is often out of date,” one of the men told L’Orient-Le Jour.

This information is denied in full by the Internal Security Forces (ISF), the body in charge of prisons, which assures that medicines “are available in the prisons.”

“These are exaggerated stories, lies. We will never give expired medicines to prisoners, even though everyone knows that a medicine can be used up to six months after its expiry date,” a senior ISF officer who requested anonymity told L’Orient-Le Jour.

“Of course, there are not enough medicines for everyone, but we are working to improve this situation. There are no epidemics in the prisons, just a few diseases due to lack of hygiene and overcrowding,” said the senior officer, who added that the images published online were “old photos.”

When asked about the quality of water, a highly sensitive issue amid the cholera epidemic in Lebanon ( vaccinations against the infection have been administered in prisons), the senior officer said that the water is treated on an ongoing basis, a claim denied by the prisoners interviewed.

No hospitals without money …

While health conditions in prisons were already difficult before the economic crisis, they have become much worse since the devaluation of the Lebanese lira. Diala Chehade, a lawyer who closely follows the daily life of prisoners, said that “the situation of prisons has been catastrophic since the beginning of 2020.”

“The budget allocated to prisons is worthless, its value has been divided by at least 10,” said Chehade. “The conditions have worsened so much that the management of Roumieh prison can now directly accept aid from NGOs without prior authorization from the authorities,” the lawyer said.

Chehade confirmed that access to care is increasingly difficult. “Some of the defendants whose cases I am following need urgent surgery, including a woman with serious gynecological problems and a man who bleeds every day. They are only given painkillers. This is the kind of neglect that could lead to complications,” she said.

Prisoners who need hospitalization or surgery must now rely on their families and pay hospitals in “fresh” dollars, just like the rest of the population. But most of them cannot afford it.

“I need to have a small surgery, but I don’t have the money, so I’m just taking it easy, trying not to move around too much so it doesn’t hurt,” Roni told our newspaper.

“Access to health care is one of the biggest tragedies in this prison. One of my cellmates was suffering from a toothache the other day. The pain was so intense that he ended up banging his head against the wall because he couldn’t get treatment. They only have paracetamol here, it can’t cure everything,” he said.

Jad said that one of the prisoners broke his arm in three different places and “had to wait in his cell until his family raised $3,000 for his surgery.” He continued, “When we go to the infirmary, they give us paracetamol and send us back saying we have nothing. Sometimes there’s not even a diagnosis.”

This sad reality is confirmed by the ISF, who acknowledge that the state can no longer afford to pay for all hospitalizations. “We cover surgical interventions when possible, otherwise, the families of the prisoners have to pay the bill. They can try to get help from NGOs,” said the senior officer interviewed by our newspaper.

Even the food is inedible and insufficient in the prisons. “We are served bulgur, lentils or boiled rice, or pasta. There is no more chicken or meat, and anyway, the portions are not enough to feed everyone. Most of the prisoners eat what their families bring from home,” said Roni. “We live in inhuman conditions. We are buried alive here,” he added.

Died due to a lack of care?

Raeda Solh, vice-president of the Association of Committees for the Families of Detainees, reported cases of prisoners who died in detention because they were not treated at the right time. “A prisoner died a few weeks ago because he was not hospitalized. He had undergone stomach surgery before being incarcerated and was suffering from water retention. His companions had to carry him because he could no longer walk,” Solh told L’Orient-Le Jour.

She said that the defendant was arrested for theft and incarcerated in March 2020, and was awaiting trial. Yet, the judges’ successive strikes delayed his trial. “If he had been interviewed by a judge in time, he might have gotten out of jail and survived,” Solh said.

She mentioned another man who died of a heart condition because his family could not afford to pay for his treatment. “The list goes on and on,” said Solh, who added that her information comes from the prisoners’ families.

L’Orient-Le Jour was unable to verify the data related to these incidents, but the ISF categorically denied “the increase in deaths in prisons since the beginning of the economic crisis.”

The above-mentioned senior officer said that “there are fewer deaths in Roumieh in a sample of 1,000 people than outside the prison,” without specifying on what criterion he based his statement.

When contacted by our newspaper, the Interior Ministry, which manages the country’s prison system, was not available for an interview.

It is even worse in detention centers

In the current context of prison overcrowding, galloping economic crisis and slowness in the judiciary, and while a general amnesty is refused by several parties, two bills were submitted to Parliament in August to reduce the prison year to six months, one by the MP for Tripoli Ashraf Rifi, and the other one through caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi. But these two drafts remain controversial and have not yet been successful.

For Father Nagib Baaklini, president of the Association of Justice and Mercy (AJEM), which is active on behalf of prisoners in Lebanon, the solution lies neither in a general amnesty law nor in changing the prison year, but rather in “increasing the budget allocated to prisons.”

“The situation in the prisons is difficult and cruel. There are not enough doctors or medicines. The food is inedible and the prisoners suffer physically and psychologically,” said Baaklini, whose association works in Roumieh prison as well as in several detention centers.

“It is true that Roumieh prison is overcrowded, but it is quite large, which allows the prisoners to breathe a little. The humanitarian situation of prisoners is more difficult in detention centers, such as Baabda, for example. The defendants are crammed together during provisional arrests that can last for months or even years,” he said.

Solh denounced a similar, if not worse, situation in Qibbeh prison in Tripoli. “The situation is the same in all prisons. Solutions need to be found to this issue,” she said.