If you put on one of the detention centre uniforms in Iraq, there is a possibility that you will contract a skin disease such as scabies. After the investigation, the itching begins. On infected uniforms in prisons and detention centres in Iraq.

On the night of August 23, 2022, O.M. was arrested by the Nasiriyah Crime Control Department. This arrest, on charges of complicity in a theft incident in the capital, was triggered by a warrant issued by the Investigation Court of New Baghdad. 

Fourteen days were enough to prepare the detainee’s investigation papers and transfer him from Nasiriyah to the New Baghdad Crime Control Office. However, on his transfer, he was not wearing the yellow prison uniform that detainees usually wear in such circumstances. 

Thirty-seven-year-old O.M. sipped a little water, then relaxed on a chair at a popular cafe in the centre of Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar province. He continued talking, “As soon as I got to the Crime Control Office in New Baghdad, the guards forced me to put on the yellow uniform to appear before the office’s investigation officer and document my testimony.” 

The young man did not hide his deep sadness as he recalled how he was arrested, describing how they brought him to the detention room, which was “very damp and dilapidated, smelled like mould, and was packed with more than 12 detainees.” 

On September 9 of the same year, O.M. was summoned to appear in front of the investigative judge of the New Baghdad Court. He was asked to wear a yellow uniform, which was brought to him from storage and gave off a foul odour. 

After 21 days of detention, O.M. was acquitted. However, he had developed an ear infection, which an ear specialist told him was caused by “an acute bacterial infection of the skin.” O.M. claimed that the infection was a result of the contaminated yellow uniform and the days he had spent in the detention room. 

Uniforms from Shorja 

Asrar Ahmed, the director of the Association of Prisoners’ Families in Iraq (APFI), did not hesitate to acknowledge the spread of many skin diseases among prisoners. These include scabies, as well as what is known as “the fire belt” (shingles), and tuberculosis. These diseases are a result of overcrowding in prisons and wearing uniforms “that do not meet the most basic requirements for hygiene.” She told Jummar, “Iraqi prisons suffer from a severe shortage of prescription drugs and the spread of kidney failure.” 

Ahmed also noted that the families of prisoners are the ones who buy them uniforms from tailoring outlets in Bab al-Sharqi, Shorja in central Baghdad, or other popular markets. Their prices range from 25-30 thousand dinars (around $19-23). When the detainee’s family returns them to the prison administration, “they are resold to other prisoners for 50-70 thousand dinars (between $38-53),” noting that, “the prison administration has not supplied free uniforms to prisoners for years.” 

According to the APFI director, many prisons and detention sites lack medical supplies and do not have health clinics. Prison administrators often claim that the Ministry of Health has not committed to providing them with prescription drugs and medical personnel. 

“Taji, Nasiriyah Central, and Abu Ghraib prisons are among the most toxic prisons in Iraq,” said Asrar Mohamed, describing the many appeals that have reached the association from prisoners. “These include cases of several prisoners contracting severe skin allergies all over their bodies, because the prison administrators have not seriously dealt with this phenomenon”. 

APFI also documented a “significant shortage” of blankets, with prisoners being forced to sleep on the floor, in addition to a lack of heaters, which makes it impossible for prisoners to shower. The association also said, based on testimonies from prisoners’ families, that some prisons rely on wells to provide drinking and cooking water for prisoners. They confirmed that they had documented many infections inside those prisons. 

Skin diseases among prisoners documented by the Association of Prisoners’ Families in Iraq (AFPI) 

The 2020 Iraqi Human Rights Commission report documented the spread of infectious skin diseases and allergies, due to overcrowding in most prisons and pretrial detention centres. It also documented the lack of available necessary treatments and lack of sun exposure, as is the case in Taji, Karkh and Basra prisons. This report was the last report that was issued by the Human Rights Commission before it was dissolved. 

Recycling Continues 

“I live in a rented house and suffer from severe financial distress, which forces me to sell the goods I get from my ration card to get treatment for my imprisoned husband.” Umm Qusay recounted the details of her daily life after her husband was arrested in 2015 during the battles to liberate the city of Ramadi. He was accused of “pledging allegiance to ISIS”. 

After her husband, Abu Qusay, 53 years old, spent eight years of his sentence in Baghdad Airport Prison, he was diagnosed with a skin disease that resulted in a rash and scaly spots. It is called psoriasis. 

Umm Qusay says that her husband’s infection has developed into skin cancer. This was based on the diagnosis of doctors outside the prison, who examined his condition through photos and videos. Umm Qusay attributed the deterioration of her husband’s condition to the lack of prison cleanliness, the neglect of the health of the inmates, and the old blankets and mattresses they use inside the detention centres. 

According to Umm Qusay and based on her experience, “The prison administration does not provide uniforms and clothes for prisoners and, from time to time, refuses to accept the uniforms and clothes sent by the prisoners’ families. This repeatedly exposes them to skin diseases, because of their continued use of the same clothes.”  

Ali Al-Bayati, a former member of the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, acknowledged the phenomenon of the recycling of uniforms between inmates and detainees, the spread of skin diseases, and the overcrowding of prisons that “reach three times their capacity.” He expressed “regret that the oversight committees that visit prisons did not take into consideration the recycling of inmates’ uniforms, and did not prioritise addressing it. This represents a violation of human rights.” 

The lack of hygiene and health care and the low level of interest taken in uniforms and in washing them has exacerbated skin diseases. This, according to Al-Bayati, “relates to the rights guaranteed by the constitution in articles 15, 17, 30, and 37, which concern the freedoms and basic rights of detainees in prisons and emphasise their protection.” 

According to the Ministry of Justice statistics for 2023, the number of detainees and convicts for all departments was 61,686. This number does not include prisoners who were released the same year. Data from the Iraqi president’s office revealed that number to be an additional 7,894 prisoners and detainees. 

According to Al-Bayati, Iraqi prisons suffer from the problem of administrative subordination, which violates Article 1 of the Law on the Reform of Inmates and Detainees No. 14 of 2018. The law affirms that prison administration should be exclusively affiliated with the Ministry of Justice and Interior, and that the presence of detention centres affiliated with the Counter-Terrorism Service, the Ministry of Defence, Intelligence and National Security, negatively affects the rights of prisoners. This is because the laws differ from one ministry to another and from one department to another, as do the systems and protocols that regulate the rights of convicts and pre-trial detainees. 

Systematic corruption inside prisons 

Kamel Amin, a former spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, told Jummar that many cases of falsifying prisoner uniform preparation have taken place. Amin confirmed the cases of recycling uniforms which causes skin diseases. 

Amin, who retired in late 2023, did not rule out suspicion of corruption in the uniform preparation processes, especially since the ministry deals with a large number of prisoners. 

“The ministry used to buy uniform fabric and have them assembled inside prisons in special workshops by the prisoners themselves.” According to Amin, the Ministry of Justice went through several financial crises after 2003. These crises prevented the prisons from being fully equipped, so some inmates were forced to seek help from their families to obtain uniforms or clothes. 

Amin said that the uniforms are supposed to be distributed twice a year to prisoners, once in the winter and once in the summer. Prisoners are required to wear them when official working hours begin in the morning, when going out for sun exposure, when participating in prison workshops, and even during family visits. After this period ends and they enter the wards, prisoners have the right to wear other clothes which are provided to them. 

Amin pointed out that “the Ministry of Justice is obligated to provide summer and winter clothing for prisoners, including underwear and all prisoner supplies.” However, the Human Rights Commission report documents the failure of the prison administrations of the Ministry of Justice in Baghdad and the provinces to provide inmates and detainees with prison uniforms and underwear twice a year, which affects the provision of appropriate health conditions. 

According to the testimonies and interviews Jummar conducted, uniform recycling is still happening today. 

Prisoner Colours 

Prisoner uniforms vary in colour. The uniforms used inside the wards or during official working hours and sun exposure time are brown. The uniforms of those sentenced to death are usually red. Yellow uniforms are used for detainees in detention centres affiliated with the Ministry of Interior, and the uniforms of juvenile prisons are light or medium blue. 

According to a high-ranking source in the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, who declined to be named, “prisoners are required to wear these uniforms upon entering the prisons of the Ministry of Justice.” 

Muqdad al-Moussawi, present spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, denied that inmate uniforms are recycled, indicating that the oversight bodies affiliated with his ministry had not documented any complaints regarding the contamination of the uniforms or their causing skin disorders on detainees. 

Al-Moussawi said that “The ministry has medical and health cadres whose mission is to conduct regular examinations of all prisoners in various detention centres.” He believes that raising the issue of inmate uniforms “falls within the framework of media controversy.”  

He pointed out that “the ministry’s plan to distribute uniforms to detention centres is based on the number of detainees at each site”, and the ministry’s instructions in this regard are “clear and explicit,” which is to prevent the recycling of uniforms once their period of use has expired. 

The Interior Ministry spokesperson’s claims contradict those of a security source whose job is to supervise a detention centre in Dhi Qar. The source revealed to Jummar that detention centres have not provided inmates with new uniforms since 2021. “On the contrary, all uniforms used by detainees are stored in lockers in the detention centre without being washed or sterilised and are reused as soon as a new detainee is brought before the court.” According to the source, each centre holds between 100-150 uniforms, while the actual number of detainees ranges from 150-200 on average. Some detention centres do not use yellow uniforms, and detainees are sent to court without wearing the proper uniform due to its scarcity. 

The security source, who interacts with prisoners during his working hours, denied that cleaning staff worked inside detention centres. This was also noted in the 2020 Human Rights Commission report, which indicated that all prisons and pretrial detention centres lack washing machines, with the exception of the Fort Suse and Al-Nassiriya prisons. The report also confirmed that all detention facilities did not provide clothes, uniforms, bedding and blankets for inmates, and that they depended on the families of inmates and detainees to provide them. Bedding and blankets are not replaced, and most of them are old and worn out in all central prisons.