Israel Outlaws Private Prisons

by Matt Kelley · 2009-11-23 06:01:00 UTC
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Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the mere existence of private prisons in the country is a violation of prisoners' constitutional rights.

In an 8-1 decision, the court overruled a decision passed by the Knesset in 2004 to allow the state to outsource its incarceration to private companies. One company had already built a prison and begun to hire staff when the state issued an injunction against opening in March. The company is expected to sue the state for the cost of building the prison.

The court explained that housing prisoners for profit is inherently a violation of their human rights. The decision brought to a close a case brought by the Academic College of Law in Ramat Gan more than two years ago.

From the Jerusalem Post:

(Supreme Court President Dorit) Beinisch wrote that the incarceration of anyone was a violation of human rights but when it was done by the state, it was done for the public good. When the state allows a private group to incarcerate, the violation of human rights is being perpetrated for profit - both the state's and the private entrepreneur's.

It will be interesting to see what impact Israel's decision to ban private prisons will have on the U.S. and the rest of the world, where the practice of outsourcing incarceration for profit has expanded enormously in recent years.

More on the Israel decision from Haartez.

Photo: Israel's Supreme Court, by Almog

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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