Iran prison overcrowded several fold

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 24 – The head of a prison in the north-western town of Ahar announced that the small penal complex had been overcrowded to several times its full capacity. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 24 – The head of a prison in the north-western town of Ahar announced that the small penal complex had been overcrowded to several times its full capacity.

Prison warden Mohammad Zeinali told the government-run news agency Fars that the Ahar Penal Complex had a capacity of 50 prisoners but was currently housing 235 inmates.

Ahar is situated in Iran’s Azeri-dominated East Azerbaijan Province.

Earlier this month, the chief of Iran’s prisons Ali Akbar Yessaghi told the state-run news agency ISNA that a prison in the south-western city of Abadan with a maximum capacity of 70 people was housing some 500 prisoners.

Yessaghi also said that some 600,000 Iranians were imprisoned every year.