The Israeli Prisons Service made an announcement that a Palestinian detainee at Ramon Prison in southern Israel was apprehended by prison guards on Tuesday while attempting to smuggle a bottle containing another prisoner’s sperm, as reported by news agency ANI.
According to the report, the bottle was discovered on a Palestinian inmate who resides in a correctional facility outside the walls of Ramon Prison. It is stated that the sperm belonged to a prisoner who was placed in solitary confinement.
The issue of babies being born to prisoners through smuggled sperm is a sensitive topic in Palestine. The report highlights that over 100 babies have been conceived using semen smuggled out of Israeli prisons. Allegedly, the prisoners’ wives impregnate themselves through in vitro fertilization (IVF), but this process can be costly, with a minimum expense of $10,000 or even more for successful conception.
The report also mentions that Palestinian clinics have been known to offer pro bono IVF services to prisoners serving long-term sentences. The first Palestinian baby conceived and born through this method was reportedly in 2012.
However, Israelis consider these children as illegitimate and claim that sperm cannot survive the journey from prison to the clinic without special conditions. They argue that these children are usually the offspring of someone other than the prisoner.
A 2021 report by AFP highlighted cases in which women in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank have turned to IVF using sperm from their imprisoned husbands.
In other prison-related news, a report by The Associated Press states that thousands of prisoners across the United States obtain college degrees while incarcerated, with many of them funded by the federal Pell Grant program. The report notes that the program is set to significantly expand in the coming month.
Post Your Comments