As part of the general privatization policy implemented by the State of Israel in the last three decades and in response to problems in the Israeli prison sector, the IPS and the Ministry of the Interior have begun to formulate and implement the idea of prison privatization.
Privatization of prisons - processes aimed at transferring part of the complex of prison maintenance operations from public responsibility to private responsibility.
International models for the privatization of prisons;
The French model - partial privatization: According to the above model, the state retains responsibility for security in prisons and the authority to punish (the core activity of a prison which is incarceration and guarding of prisoners remains in the hands of the state) but uses outsourcing (all outsourced activities). Of the prison (welfare and logistics operations such as the operation of the prison dining room, prisoner rehabilitation work, education, construction of new prisons, medical services, etc.).
The British model - full privatization under strict supervision: according to the above model, the state transfers to private hands the full responsibility for the management of the prison, but leaves in its hands the powers of selection, jurisdiction and punishment. Supervision is also extensive according to this model.
The American model - complete privatization:
In the United States, the privatization of prisons is more extreme, meaning the full transfer of responsibility for the management of the prison to private hands, with less state oversight and wider sentencing powers for the private operator.
The United States currently has the largest volume of incarceration in the field of incarceration (compared to other countries).
* These are the three main models for the privatization of prisons and are of course used in other countries as well.
State prisons in Israel to date
As of the beginning of 2007, 27 detention facilities were counted in Israel, with about 23,100 prisoners and about 6,800 staff members in prison. Prisons in Israel suffer from adverse effects such as overcrowding and shortage of places of incarceration, and as a result also difficulty in maintaining basic sanitary conditions in prison cells and basic rights of prisoners. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the demand for prison cells in the future is only expected to increase (thus, if there is no appropriate treatment, exacerbating prison morbidity).
Formulation and implementation of the privatization program
At the end of the last century, following a search for possible solutions that would solve the problem of overcrowding in the prison and enable better and more efficient management of a prison, and looking at the experience of other countries, IPS and Interior Ministry concluded that authorities around the world can not or do not want Increase the section on prison maintenance expenses from their budget, but want to solve the problems of overcrowding and operation in the prison, turn to the privatization of prisons. Following the formulation of the above conclusion, a decision was made to implement the privatization of prisons in Israel, and this led to the search for a specific privatization model, appropriate to Israel, while preparing appropriate constitutional land in the Knesset that would enable the privatization process.
The Amendment Law to the Prisons Ordinance came into force on 31.3.04 and on 16.11.05 a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior announced the start of the privatization process.
The characteristics of the process of privatizing prisons at this stage are:
• At this stage, the state will allow the construction of a single prison, with the aim of formulating decisions for further privatization based on the quality of its activities, meeting the goals of privatization and its experience.
• A prison to be built near Be'er Sheva will be able to accommodate 800 prisoners with a low-medium security level.
• The concessionaire who will build and operate the first private prison in Israel is the ALA company. Management and Operations Ltd., which is controlled by Mr. Leviev's Africa Israel, in partnership with the engineering company Manrov and the American prison management company Emerald, the franchisee's estimated initial investment is $ 250,000 and the total value of the contract is 22 years. ) Is $ 1.4 billion
• The method of privatization is according to the British PFI model, according to which the day-to-day management and operation of the prison is under private responsibility and the state supervises the concessionaire, through a permanent government control team that will work within the prison. In addition, the state will exclusively retain the powers of selection, adjudication and punishment of prisoners. In addition, the IPS will be responsible for training prisoners for the private prisons (without the approval of the IPS, it will not be possible to be a prisoner in the private prison). It is important to note that this is the most successful model for the privatization of prisons in the world in terms of meeting the objectives of privatization.
Currently, the only factor that may prevent the state from making the move is the High Court.
Sources
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http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-735829,00.html
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http://www.adva.org/view.asp?lang=he&catID=17&articleID=436