Cell sizes and capacities vary significantly within and between prisons. For the most part, cells are crowded and cramped. In Roumieh prison, some cells hold about ten prisoners while other cells consist of large dormitories for over 100 people. Women are kept with about ten fellow prisoners in Qobbeh prison, and between five to seven per cell in Babar Khazen prison.¹
Prisoners surround their mattresses with cardboard boxes or sheets to create a “private space”.

Prisoners and guards alike ask NGOs for light bulbs to replace damaged ones. The prison administration lacks the means to procure them. Like the rest of the country’s population, the prison population is affected by frequent power cuts.

On 31 March 2021, Lebanon’s National Committee for the Prevention of Torture (NHRC-CPT) visited Roumieh prison. It noted frequent power outages. The rationing of electricity due to the economic crisis and inflation hit prisoners particularly hard.Le Comité pour la prévention de la torture libanais (CPT) visite, le 31 mars 2021, la prison de Roumieh. Il constate que de graves coupures d’électricité sont fréquentes. Le rationnement de l’électricité lié à la crise économique et à l’inflation impacte particulièrement les personnes détenues.¹

In most facilities, temperatures are very high in summer and very low in winter. Humidity levels are also high.¹

On 31 March 2021, Lebanon’s National Committee for the Prevention of Torture (NHRC-CPT) visited Roumieh prison. It noted the bedsheets of several prisoners in Block B were rotten as a result of an increase in temperatures, high humidity and bad ventilation.²

Sanitation facilities in most prisons are dilapidated. Bathrooms are “small, dirty and inadequate for providing prisoners with decent living conditions”. They often have no showers or hot water.¹

In 2016, the UN Committee against Torture noted “the lack of respect for prisoners’ legal rights on personal hygiene”.¹ Notably, toilets lack seats. ²

The authorities are required to provide prisoners with soap (20 grams per day).¹ Prisoners told the ECPM fact-finding mission that the authorities no longer distribute soap due to a lack of funding.² Nowadays, hygiene products are supplied by relatives or NGOs.

Cleaning products are brought by prisoners’ relatives and NGOs. Prison staff often lack cleaning products and equipment.¹

Prisoners in Roumieh are allowed to cook in their cells whereas persons held in Qobbeh are prohibited from cooking in their cells.¹

Families are allowed to bring food to their incarcerated relatives.¹ Prison regulations stipulate that “pre-trial prisoners are free to receive meals from outside, provided that they respect the prison regulations and the meal times set by the prison governor” (Article 81 of Decree No. 14310).²
Since the beginning of the health and socio-economic crisis, families have found it more difficult to visit their incarcerated relatives and bring them food and/or money.
Roumieh is the only prison in the country where food cannot be brought in from outside. This is done for so-called security reasons, namely to prevent the entry of prohibited products, including drugs.