Each woman was given a small pot of yogurt.

For more than 1,000 female prisoners crammed into Iran’s only women’s prison, it was their only meal on a sweltering August day.

Prison officials at Qarchak said the kitchen was closed. Power was out, they claimed. Human rights advocates, however, say it was deliberate starvation disguised as infrastructure failure.

The incident on August 18 marked the latest decline in conditions at a prison activists have long described as a “cemetery,” a place where Iran sends its most marginalized women to vanish from public life.

Political prisoners were transferred there following an Israeli attack on Tehran’s Evin Prison.

“Qarchak was never good from the beginning,” said a source. “It’s famous for being a cemetery and a cattle farm. But now, with power and water cuts and this unbearable heat, it has turned into hell.”

The prison stands on land that once held a cemetery and later served as a cattle farm before Iranian authorities converted it into a detention center.

Human rights lawyers say the facility lacks the basic infrastructure required to safely house even 1,000 people, let alone provide the humane conditions mandated under Iranian law.

Soghra Khodadadi, who heads the prison, has presided over increasingly harsh conditions as Iran’s government cracks down on dissent following nationwide protests that began in 2022.

Under her administration, prisoners face systematic food deprivation, medical neglect, and deliberate isolation from the outside world.

The August 18 yogurt incident was followed by another day of starvation. On August 19, officials again withheld food until 4 p.m., citing power outages.

Sources inside the prison say such episodes have become routine as summer heat pushes the prison’s fragile infrastructure to its breaking point.

“When the electricity goes out, air conditioners shut down for hours. With only emergency power, the ventilation devices barely work,” one source said.

A constant putrid smell from nearby sewage and waste facilities hangs over the prison at all times.

The transfer of political prisoners from Evin to Qarchak followed Israel’s attack on Tehran during the 12-day war.

Amid threats and intimidation from security forces, authorities moved female political detainees to quarantine sections at Qarchak, where they encountered conditions far worse than Evin’s notorious environment.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who was once held in Qarchak before her transfer to Evin, has documented the prison’s deplorable conditions.

In a June 2022 letter co-authored with fellow activist Alieh Motalebzadeh, she described sewage overflowing into prison wards, chemical pollutants, foul odors, and insects that endangered inmates’ health.

“The filters and worn-out water system of the prison have broken down again,” the letter stated.

Food quality and supply had also deteriorated due to restrictions on outside provisions, making conditions “worse for prisoners than before.”

Audio recordings obtained by IranWire reveal prisoners reporting severe medicine shortages, constant hunger, widespread narcotics and psychiatric drugs, and lack of access to clean water or breathable air.

Prison officials have also enforced strict segregation to prevent political detainees from witnessing or reporting on the conditions faced by women imprisoned for non-political crimes.

Many inmates come from Iran’s most marginalized communities and lack the resources to pay fines, blood money, or legal fees that could secure their release.

“Evin prisoners are not allowed to access some public spaces of Qarchak Prison, such as the gym or corridors near the general ward or the larger store,” a source told IranWire.

Political prisoners are confined to quarantine areas and a small store, with limited outdoor access – spaces rarely used due to the unbearable heat and stench.

This segregation serves a dual purpose: preventing political prisoners from organizing with others while ensuring their high-profile status does not expose the systemic abuse of Iran’s most vulnerable women prisoners.

For mothers imprisoned with their children, conditions pose additional hardships.

Sources report severe shortages of baby formula and diapers for infants. Even when families deposit money into prisoners’ accounts, officials often refuse to provide supplies, forcing mothers to buy from overpriced prison stores.

“In the mothers’ ward, there is both the problem of shortage of baby formula and diapers,” one source said. “Even if money is deposited into a prisoner’s account, however little and limited, the prison withholds milk and diapers.”

Medical care is also severely restricted.

While a basic clinic exists inside the prison, transfers to outside hospitals require prisoners to wear shackles on both wrists and ankles.

Many political detainees refuse these conditions, effectively denying them advanced medical treatment.

“Qarchak officials said the rules are the same for everyone and we cannot discriminate between you and prisoners in the general ward,” a source reported. “They told transferred prisoners: ‘You must wear wrist and ankle shackles.’”

Legal experts say such practices violate both Iranian law and international standards.

Lawyer Mousa Barzin said that Iran’s Prison Organization regulations clearly require detention centers to provide healthy, adequate, and nutritious food to all inmates.

“The matter is completely clear in the executive regulations,” Barzin said. “Sanitary conditions, food standards – even details like vitamins and meat in meals – are all explained.”

But enforcement doesn’t exist. Iranian authorities prevent civil society groups from monitoring prisons, deny journalists access, and restrict official inspections.

The lack of oversight has allowed officials to act with impunity.

“They always make excuses,” Barzin said. “Electricity cuts cannot justify withholding food or serving it late and keeping the prisoners hungry. They can plan ahead and cook meals. These are all excuses, and against the law.”

The isolation of prisoners extends beyond physical separation.

Political detainees transferred from Evin were eager to support common prisoners and amplify their voices, but authorities have blocked any meaningful contact between the groups

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