Exhibits on display on the first two floors offer basic background about the history of prison struggles and the local and national solidarity movement, as well as information about specific prisoners. The museum also features revolving exhibitions of political posters, a wall commemorating the 200+ political prisoners who have died in Israeli jails, a large selection of prisoner artwork, and an educational display about prisoners’ “capsule” notes– that is, notes written on small sheets of paper, wrapped in plastic to form small pill-like capsules, and then swallowed and smuggled out of the prisons. Using this method, Palestinian prisoners have, for many years, communicated with each other across a wide network of jails, prisons, and detention centers. The architecture of these exhibits is meant to convey the sense of being in an Israeli prison.

The top floor of the museum houses an archive and library containing hundreds of volumes. Books housed here are mainly of two types: 1) published books that were smuggled into and studied within prisons, and 2) notebooks and journals of prisoners. Many of these volumes were hand-bound and reinforced by the prisoners with cardboard and magazine advertisements. The museum is actively scanning, digitizing, summarizing, and cataloging the prisoner narratives, and hopes to get them online soon.

For more information, visit the museum’s website.