Alternative Penalties for Women

The Judiciary has accepted to implement a number of alternative penalties instead of prison for women as recommended by the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs. “Reducing prisoner numbers is on top of the Judiciary’s agenda, which has agreed to several suggestions for alternate punishments to imprisonment,” said Vice president Shahindokht Molaverdi via her Telegram channel but didn’t specify what the alternatives entailed. She said that revisions in the penalties would mainly target drug-related crimes, and added that “under a memorandum of understanding with the Haami Society (which supports families of prisoners), certain supportive programs are underway to support women whose husbands are locked up.”