Prison Service

The **Israeli Prison Service**, commonly known in Israel by its acronym **Shabas** (שב״ס‎) or **IPS** in English, is the state agency responsible for overseeing prisons in Israel. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Security. In 2014, the IPS employed 8,800 workers.

## **Living conditions and prisoners' rights**

### Positive findings

Conditions in Israeli prisons generally meet international standards. IPS facilities, interrogation facilities and IDF provisional detention centers are regularly monitored by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and occasionally, by the Israeli Bar Association and Public Defender's Office.

Prison conditions are equal for male and female prisoners, and all prisoners are free to practice their religion. All Israeli citizens have the right to vote whilst in prison.

Inmates are entitled to visits from their lawyers and family members, and security prisoners are allowed Red Cross visits. Inmates who are married or in common-law relationships have the right to conjugal visits.

Prison inmates have the right to file grievances about their conditions to the courts, the Israeli Prison Service management and the Israeli Police Unit for the investigation of Prison Service personnel. Credible allegations of inhumane conditions are duly investigated by the authorities, which documents the results publicly.

Inmates who were not convicted of terrorism offenses also have the right to free university education, under a special education program in which they take online academic programs from the Open University of Israel, and their tuition is financed by prison authorities. This right was rescinded for those imprisoned for terrorism offenses in 2011.

### Negative findings

In a report of the Public Defense Office based on unannounced inspections, the living conditions at the facilities, as of 2017–18, were found to be often unfit for human habitation, along with widespread cases of inmates' rights violation.

On 25 March 2020, a prisoner in the Nafha prison of Israel reportedly set fire to a guard room protesting against the neglect shown towards the health conditions of the prisoners by the prison administrations, amid the coronavirus outbreak. The inmate, Ayman Sharabati, who is serving a life sentence at the prison, set fire to the guard room when he along with other prisoners was sent out for walk, according to Qadri Abu Bakr, A Palestinian Representation Administration Spokesperson. Reportedly, the IPS lacks the appropriate medical aid and provision necessary to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 among the prisoners.

## **Privately run prisons**

The Knesset passed a law allowing private prisons in 2004, and plans for privately run prisons were introduced in 2006. The state hoped to save money by transferring prisoners to such facilities, which would eliminate the need to invest in more infrastructure and manpower. In 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the plans, ruling that private prisons are an unconstitutional violation of basic human rights. Following the decision, the state had to pay compensation to a company that had already completed construction of the first private prison, near Beersheba.

## **List of prisons and detention centers**

### Prisons:

#### Maximum Security

Shata Prison (Between Be'it She'an and Afula), Lower Galilee ISR

Ehsel Prison (South of Be'er-Sheva), Be'er-Sheva ISR

Rimonim Prison (North of Ra'anana), Sharon ISR

Ayalon Prison (in Ramla/The Ramla Prisons Area), Tel-Aviv ISR

Damon Prison (South of Haifa), Haifa ISR

#### Security Prisons

Ofer Prison (South of Ramallah), Samaria ISR

Megiddo Prison (Southwest of Afula), Lower Galilee ISR

Ktzi'ot Prison (East of Nitzana), Negev ISR

Nafkha Prison (North of Mitzpe Ramon), Negev ISR

Ramon Prison (Next to Nafkha Prison), Negev ISR

Gilbo'a Prison (Next to Shata Prison), Lower Galilee ISR

#### Maximum of 7 Year Sentences Prisons

Dekel Prison (Next to Eshel Prison), Be'er-Sheva ISR

Maasiyahu Prison (in Ramla, next to Ayalon Prison/The Ramla Prisons Area), Tel-Aviv ISR

Tzlamon Prison (Northwest of Tveria), Lower Galilee ISR

#### Maximum of 5 Year Sentences Prisons

Karmel Prison (Northeast of Atlit), Haifa ISR

Hermon Prison (Next to Tzalmon Prison), Lower Galilee ISR

#### Teen Prison

Ofek Prison (Next to Rimonim Prison), Sharon ISR

#### Female Prison

Neve Tirtza Women's Prison (in Ramla/Ramla Prisons Area), Tel-Aviv ISR

#### Other Prisons

Ha'Sharon Prison (Next to Rimonim & Ofek Prisons), Sharon ISR

Ella Prison (Next to Dekel & Eshel Prisons), Be'er-Sheva ISR

Ashmoret Prison (East of Netanya), Sharon ISR

### Detention Centers:

#### Normal Detention Centers

Abu-Kabir Detention Center (In Tel-Aviv/Jaffa), Tel-Aviv ISR

Petah Tikva Detention Center (in Petah-Tikva), Tel-Aviv ISR

Moscovia Detention Center (in Jerusalem), Jerusalem ISR

Kishon/Jalma Detention Center (Southeast of Haifa), Haifa ISR

Nitzan Detention Center (in Be'er Ya'akov and Nes Ziona), Tel-Aviv ISR

Eilat Detention Center (in Eilat), Eilat ISR

Hadarim Detention Center (in Kfar Saba), Tel-Aviv ISR

Shikma Detention Center (in Ashkelon), Shfela ISR

Ohalei Kider Detention Center (next to Dekel, Eshel & Ella Prisons)

#### Detention Centers For Infiltrators

Saharonim Detention Center (Next to Ktzi'ot Prison), Negev ISR

Giv'on Detention Center (in Ramla/Ramla Prisons Area), Tel-Aviv ISR

## **Special Units**

### Metzada Unit

*Metzada* unit (named after Masada Mountain) is the IPS's hostage rescue and special operations unit, one of five hostage rescue units in Israel.

### Nachshon Unit

*Nahshon* is the IPS's main intervention and conveyance unit and deals with searches, silencing disturbances, guarding IPS staff, etc. The Nachson unit is the operational arm of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). The unit was established in 1973, and serves as the central unit for the observation of prisoners, operational interventions and security. The tasks of the unit include, among others: escorting prisoners and detainees from an incarceration facility to another location, and intervening during irregular events that may take place to establish order and security. The unit helps conduct broad searches within prisons to find weapons, drugs, information, notes, explosives, mobile phones, SIM cards, and any information about possible enemy terrorist attacks. The unit must also ensure the safety of prison staff members who have been threatened (them and their families) by delivering prisoners to foreign countries as part of international extradition agreements for prisoners, escorting detainees to court and he is responsible for maintaining the security of the courtroom, and even escorts dangerous prisoners on their home visits and when they leave prison for medical treatment. Members of the Nachshon unit escort around 1,800 prisoners, criminals and terrorists daily in the unit's vehicles, resulting in an annual number of 390,000 prisoners. The unit has hundreds of specially designed operational vehicles, from buses to trucks to motorcycles, all of which are adapted to escort the prisoners. Vehicles serve as mobile prisons, transporting a violent and dangerous sector of society that is very likely to try to escape. These vehicles can operate both day and night and can reach anywhere in the country. The Nachshon unit is divided into 3 brigades scattered throughout the country (north, center and south), and under the command of the unit's headquarters.

### Yamar Dror

*Yamar Dror* is a special intelligence unit whose operations are secret. The unit is operated solely by the Commissioner of Prisons and the Head of the Intelligence Division. Among its few activities that can be discovered are: drug warfare, weapons and more. One of the only specialties is dressing up and mingling with the population.

### Tzur Unit

*Tzur Unit* is A unit for the surveillance of sex offenders, which includes supervision officers who monitor about 1300 sex offenders who have been diagnosed as dangerous to society and have ended serving their sentences. more than a third of the supervisors are pedophiles and the rest are rapists.