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Sponge Slippers and Dental Floss: The Delicacies of Iran’s Prisons

August 20, 2015
Mahrokh Gholamhosseinpour
6 min read
The low quality lavash bread served in Iran's prisons
The low quality lavash bread served in Iran's prisons
in the past few months, cheese has been replaced with a 25-gram slice of “halva-ardeh”
in the past few months, cheese has been replaced with a 25-gram slice of “halva-ardeh”
"Whatever it is, it does not smell or taste of bread. Its stale smell, and its mildew, is really atrocious.”
"Whatever it is, it does not smell or taste of bread. Its stale smell, and its mildew, is really atrocious.”
Inmates are sometimes given processed cheese as part of their diet
Inmates are sometimes given processed cheese as part of their diet
The logistics of installing baking machinery in Iran's prisons
The logistics of installing baking machinery in Iran's prisons
Installing the machinery meant knocking a hole in the wall because the machines would not fit in the stairwells
Installing the machinery meant knocking a hole in the wall because the machines would not fit in the stairwells
Waiting for the baking machines to arrive at the prison
Waiting for the baking machines to arrive at the prison

Early in the morning, freshly baked, tasty bread sprinkled with sesame seeds — a favorite among Iranians — is on offer for breakfast at both Evin or Rajaei Shahr prisons, but only if you are an employee, a prison official or an interrogator. Prisoners bake the bread, which has no preservatives, does not taste too strongly of baking soda, and is made of standard whole-wheat flour. They then serve it up to officials, fresh and warm, from a pushcart.

A few hours later, when the prisoners get their lunch, they are also given bread. But theirs is burned, doughy or dry. At Rajaei Shahr Prison, inmates are given bread made from the cheapest and the lowest-quality processed flour and a large amount of baking soda. The prisoners call it “lavash” — but it does not much resemble the traditional tasty flatbread made in a brick oven, popular in Iran and other countries in the region.

“The type of bread that we consume cannot be found outside the prison,” Hossein R., a prisoner at Rajaei Shahr, tells IranWire. “It is neither lavash nor machine-made. Whatever it is, it does not smell or taste of bread. Its stale smell, and its mildew, is really atrocious.”

Prisoners have a daily quota of one and a half loaves of this bread, which is sprinkled with a bit of flour on both sides that leaves a residue on their hands. Sometimes it is distributed in the afternoon, but in the fasting month of Ramadan, it is distributed at 1.30 in the morning along with breakfast, and it must be consumed before dawn.

 

The Sponge Slipper

The sham lavash is not the only bread thrust upon prisoners. The other one is fake barbari, a thick flatbread, usually baked in a traditional oven like lavash. “At Evin, they give you two kinds of bread,” a prisoner named Hooshang tells IranWire. “Lavash, which is an exact copy of what they give you at Rajaei Shahr; and barbari, another name for a machine-made bread with unbaked layers inside. Sometimes the inside layers are so deprived of heat that the bread can be stretched or is rotten on the inside. Each prisoner gets half a portion of this bread, which is so salty and full of baking soda it’s inedible. We call it the ‘sponge slipper’.”

According to Hooshang, the hapless prisoners of Evin have come up with humorous names for each inedible food item that they get. For example, most Iranians love rice crust. But what they get in prison is a multilayered and burned version, which has a cement-like texture and quality. Prisoners refer to it as “the doorstop”.

There are prisoners in communal wards who have not tasted ordinary bread for more than 20 years. But then others say that when they go on furlough and are able to eat fresh bread from bakeries, they come down with a bad stomachache because their body has gotten so used to poor-quality prison bread.

Bad bread in prison has even led to violent incidents and riots. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a young prisoner named Mehdi Eslami, who was moved to solitary confinement after he quarreled with his cellmate over their share of bread, committed suicide on July 16, 2013. The same year there were reports that a group of prisoners in the northeastern city of Birjand staged a protest against the shortage and the quality of bread — to no avail. In July 2015, a Rajaei Shahr prisoner was reportedly killed following an argument over a piece of rice crust.

Hossein says that arguments over bread and inadequate rations are commonplace and sometimes result in broken bones and other injuries. “But even then it is rare that ordinary prisoners would complain to prison or judiciary officials about the problems inside the cellblock,” he says. He says this silence is a response to prison officials’ violent and humiliating attitudes. Inmates have learned that they must forego protests and live with their problems if they are going to get furloughs or pardons.

The bread factory at Rajaei Shahr Prison produces 16,000 loaves of bread daily. At Evin, it is 5,000 loaves a day.

If the bread-making machines at Evin or Rajaei Shahr break down, prisoners are given a baguette or some sandwich bread. Of course, for officials at Rajaei Shahr, made-to-order barbari bread is available.

 

Work by Day, Prison by Night

Mass bread production is not limited to Evin and Rajaei Shahr prisons. The Cooperative to Support Prisoners issues contracts to qualified individuals or businesses for the mass production of bread for prisons. These businesses usually hire “day-release” prisoners to work for them. Day-release prisoners are allowed to work for outside business entities and government institutions and are paid for it, though they must spend the night in the prison.

In addition to prison officials, these day-release prisoners and other inmates who have been given particular jobs at the prison are entitled to loaves of barbari. Most large prisons in Iran are equipped with industrial-scale bread production machinery and some day-release prisoners work in the fields to harvest wheat and barley.

Sometimes, because of the decrepit conditions of the prison, installing baking machinery leads to unexpected results. Two years ago there were plans to instal new equipment at Rajaei Shahr Prison, but those in charge of the installation could not find a way to bring it in via stairways and elevators. So a crane was used to transfer the equipment to the prison courtyard and a hole was dug in the outside wall of one of cellblocks. Finally, the machinery was installed on the second floor.

 

The Looming Sell-By Date

At Rajaei Shahr, a prisoner’s breakfast also includes a 25-gram cube of packaged, processed cheese from a little-known and low-quality state-owned producer. The Prisons Organization usually buys the cheese just as it is approaching its sell-by date.

The cheese is given to prisoners for supper. Until two years ago, prison guards gave cheap 400-gram portions of cheese to a group of 20 prisoners. Then they changed this, and gave them 25-gram individual blocks. For some reason, in the past few months the cheese has been replaced with a 25-gram cut of “halva-ardeh” or sesame pudding, a traditional confectionery made with eggs, sugar, ground sesame seeds and cardamom. If it is bought in the market, the ingredients are enticing and the halva is very good. But in most cases, prisoners receive halva that has passed its sell-by date, and it usually smells bad or has gone sour. Only prisoners who cannot afford to buy food from the prison’s shop eat this food. These prisoners do not have financial support from anyone outside the prison.

Prisoners never get milk, unless they can buy it from the prison’s shop.

In some cellblocks, including those that house security and political prisoners, inmates are woken up at 7.30 in the morning to receive a bar of cheese or halva-ardeh and a piece of bread. And, at the same time, prison employees and officials enjoy their fresh and tasty breakfast.

 

Related articles:

Health Minister: “We must improve prisons now”

Rape Before Execution: The Secrets Persist

 

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