Israeli military prison

The Israeli Military Prison is a prison for guarding soldiers who committed crimes during their service. It is estimated that 15,000-18,000 Israeli soldiers (not to be confused with Palestinian detainees) go through an Israeli military prison or detention center every year.

The need to create prisons in the IDF arose as the soldiers' discipline deteriorated over the course of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. At first, detention centers were built in the infantry brigades' bases under the auspices of the Manpower Directorate.

The prison sector of the Israeli Military Police was founded in June 1948. It was originally called Military Police Prisons (Hebrew: משטרה צבאית בתי הסוהר‎‎), under a Prisons Officer. The sector was slated to include military prisons under the command of the military police, as well as brigade detention centers, for light prisoners, subordinate to the respective brigades. The first Israeli military prison was built on the ruins of al-Shaykh Muwannis (now North Tel Aviv), under Captain Yoel Caspi. Immediately smaller prisons were erected in Acre, Jaffa and Jerusalem.

The facilities were deemed temporary, and two months later Prison Four was founded in Tzrifin. A prison for female soldiers was conceptualized in March 1949 and founded near Nahalal in 1952 as Prison 400, under Lieutenant Elihava Gerchuk. The year 1952 also saw the approval of another military prison (Prison Six), due to the deteriorating conditions of Prison Four. Prison Six was conceptualized and originally commanded by Major Yaakov Markovitz, after he was taken under the wing of then-chief military police officer, Yosef Pressman. A jailor course was also founded to teach jailors to deal with prisoners.

In 1955, detailed regulations for the prison sector were published, which introduced a new set of orders and ideals for the sector. The main objective of the system was changed from the British idea of seeking to dissuade prisoners from returning, to a new idea of rehabilitation. The orders defined the permissible chores for prisoners, maximum work hours, punishments and basic conditions. In 1976, the new chief military police officer, Benjamin Inbar, took the rehabilitation to a new level by formulating a set of orders which clarified that the military prisons were meant to serve the IDF as a whole, not just the courts and commanders that handed down sentences. Inbar strove to improve relations between prisoners and jailors, and introduced new activities in the prisons. More attention was paid to where each prisoner would be put, and various prisoner types were clearly defined. As part of this trend, Prison Seven was built in April 1980 in the Ktzi'ot base to hold light prisoners with no criminal record.

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