I represent a Palestinian woman in Israeli prison. Now I can’t reach her
Prisoners inside Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, 26 February 2025
Janan Abdu writes in +972 on 23 March 2026:
Just days before the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, I promised my client — a young Palestinian woman in her 20s imprisoned at Damon Prison near Haifa — that I would return to see her in March. The visit, on behalf of Israel’s Public Committee Against Torture, mattered to her for reasons that went beyond her legal case. Cut off from her family and the outside world, she described the meetings as a necessary source of human connection, something she awaited eagerly with hope.
But on Feb. 28, as soon as the war began, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) declared a state of emergency, suspending or severely restricting lawyer visits. After checking with prison officials, I was told that all visits had been suspended pending new instructions from the Home Front Command. I would not be able to see my client. My colleagues reported that their scheduled visits had also been canceled; effectively, the prisons had entered lockdown.
When access was partially restored, it was limited to detainees awaiting trial or sentencing and those with upcoming court hearings, excluding convicted prisoners like my client. Overnight, the line of contact she relied on — and that allowed me to monitor her conditions — was severed. Her case is an example of the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons that has become systematic and official and shows why lawyer visits are not a luxury but a necessity.
When Israeli authorities first declared a state of war on October 7, prisons simultaneously began operating in a state of emergency. Family visits and Red Cross visits to Palestinian detainees were halted. Since then, lawyer visits have become even more vital, offering one of the only forms of external oversight — a rare glimpse into a system where abuse, degrading treatment, and, in many cases, acts amounting to torture occur out of sight. We lawyers often learn about such mistreatment by chance during client meetings. Without those encounters, much of what happens inside would remain undocumented.
The latest emergency measures have deepened the lack of transparency. The IPS introduced a hierarchy for lawyer visits: detainees with imminent court hearings, followed by remand detainees, and finally convicted prisoners — many of whom, like my client, are now effectively cut off.
On March 11, the IPS legal advisor extended additional restrictions through mid-April, curtailing prisoners’ routine activities including daily yard time.