Female prison guards with the Israel Prison Service have allegedly been sexually harassed by terrorists after being transferred to the high-security ward at the request of an influential inmate, Channel 20 reported Tuesday.
According to the report, the two guards claimed they were forced to transfer to a high-security ward at the request of an inmate considered a "leader" of the security prisoners in the facility. The directive sought to placate the terrorists and maintain order in the prison, they said.
"The security prisoner saw me and told me to come work in his ward. I answered, 'No way,'" one of the IPS guards recounted. "One day, my shift commander told me that the intelligence officer had demanded I move to the prisoner's ward. I said I didn't want to. The commander told me, 'They demanded you be there.' … This is an inmate who commands great respect in prison. For some reason, everyone cares what he thinks."
According to the report, the guard was shocked by the transfer and confided in one of her close associates, who decided to go public with the story.
The associate noted this specific guard usually works in the criminal wards, noting that "one of the dominant prisoners, a leader in the ward, turned to her and told her, 'You know, I want you to work for us.' She laughed [it off], she never believed something like that could happen, where a prisoner would determine if she works at a specific ward."
The prison guard further said she did not understand why female prison guards were required to be around terrorists.
"This [the IPS] is a very large organization. Everything here is dealt with internally and doesn't get out. It is very difficult for us to come out with things. We are a small link in the chain. I would never have believed I would have experienced the humiliation I experienced, to the point where he allowed himself to grab my behind," she said.
Channel 20 said that other female prison guards have also faced harassment by the prisoners but refuse to come forward for fear of having their identities exposed.
The Israel Prison Service issued a statement saying, "The IPS assigns staff to different positions according to their training and abilities, and purely based on the needs of the system.
"The work of a prison guard is professional work that requires coping daily with complex situations, some of them dangerous. Naturally, the prisoner population challenges the staff in various ways, and when this conduct exceeds prescribed norms, sanctions are imposed accordingly. The Israel Prison Service regrets reports motivated by extraneous considerations that sully the important and significant work done by the organization's guards."
