The Problem of Overcrowded Prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The 1979 Revolution led to the construction of a penal system ostensibly based on Islamic principles of restitutive and restorative justice rather than incarceration. This was tied to an Islamic vision of justice as swift and efficient, with emphasis on corporal punishment as opposed to socially detrimental imprisonment. Despite this, custodial sentences have been used extensively since 1979 and imprisonment rates have often been above the median in global terms, even though the level of violent crime has been relatively low. Furthermore, Iran has been unable (or unwilling) to generate the prison capacity needed, leading to severe problems with overcrowding and attendant health problems, such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. Concentrating mainly on “ordinary” rather than “political” prisoners, this chapter discusses the reasons behind the overcrowding in prisons since the revolution and the government’s attempts to alleviate the situation.