Maasiyahu Prison is a minimum-security prison in Ramle, Israel, run by the Israel Prison Service.
History
Prisoners who have proven responsible have access to various places of employment and education programs, the right to take vacations from prison, as well as rehabilitative treatment through various methods including therapy animals. Prisoners who have a history of problematic behavior are held under tighter security and are not permitted to take vacations. There is a special wing for religious inmates called the Torani wing, also known as "Beis Medrash Maasiyahu", where inmates spend most of the day praying and studying Torah and other sacred Jewish texts in two seminaries and do not have access to television and newspapers. The whole prison complex is located in the city of Ramla in the Central District of Israel.
In 2002, inmates declared a hunger strike to protest what they viewed as improper medical and legal treatment.
In 2004, public workers from the nearby town of Lod, who had not been paid in months, chained themselves to the gates of the prison in a public protest, demanding to be arrested so they could be fed the free prison food.
In 2005, a wing of the prison was converted to house those detained while protesting Sharon's plan to withdraw from 21 settlements in Gaza and another 4 in the West Bank. The new wing can house 900 detainees.
Notable inmates
- Shlomo Benizri, Israeli politician and member of the Shas party (started as 4 years, reduced to 2 years and 8 months)
- Aryeh Deri, Israeli politician and one of the founders of the Shas ultra-Orthodox religious party (22 months)
- Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane (1966–2000), far-right Israeli politician
- Meir Kahane (1932–1990), ultra-nationalist American-Israeli politician
- Moshe Katsav, former President of Israel and convicted rapist (7 years, served 5 years)
- Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, convicted in the Holyland Case of bribery while serving as the mayor of Jerusalem and later obstruction of justice (19 months)
- Yishai Schlissel, convicted criminal who stabbed marchers at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005 and 2015 (10 years)
- Ami Popper, Israeli mass murderer,
- Jaggi Singh, Canadian anarchist, anti-globalization and social justice activists (1 day)
References
- Raved, Ahiya; Meranda, Amnon (September 1, 2009). "Former Ministers Hirchson, Benizri Begin Prison Terms". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
- "Former Shas leader to leave prison". BBC News. July 11, 2002. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
- Tzvi Fishman, Rabbi Kahane is Still Right, JewishPress.com, 26 January 2016, accessed 5 March 2019
- "Israel ex-President Katsav begins jail term for rape". BBC News. BBC. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
- Bob, Yonah Jeremy (February 15, 2016). "Olmert enters jail, becomes first prime minister to serve in prison". The Jerusalem Post.
- Chaim Levinson, Yaniv Kubovich, Israel Police to probe failure to monitor Jerusalem gay pride parade assailant, Haaretz, July 31, 2015
- "Gay Pride killer beaten up in prison in argument over his crime". The Times of Israel.
- Yaniv Kubovich,'After bullying Katsav, Jewish terrorist Ami Popper moved to New Prison,' Haaretz 16 October 2012
- Raanan Ben-Zur,'Ami Popper to be transferred after harassing Katsav in jail,' Ynet 15 October 2012.
- Jaggi Singh (18 January 2003). "I Was Nabbed, Beaten, and Deported:Jaggi Singh". Scoop:Independent News.
- Nigel Parry (8 January 2003). "Israeli Security Forces Kidnap Jaggi Singh". The Electronic Intifada. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007.
31°56′9.25″N 34°52′59.41″E / 31.9359028°N 34.8831694°E / 31.9359028; 34.8831694
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