Shin Bet security agency chief Ronen Bar warned the government earlier this month that the overcapacity in Israeli prisons was having a damaging effect on Israeli security by making the IDF scale back arrests of terrorists despite the rise of threats, Israel Hayom has learned.
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Other senior security officials have also been warning that a new law that is set to take effect in September, which prevents the administrative parole of terrorists who are incarcerated for relatively minor offenses that carry a sentence of up to three years, would make the situation even worse, thus preventing the imprisonment of more serious offenders.
Video: Troops arrest terrorist behind Mount Hebron attack / Credit: Israel Police
Administrative parole allows authorities to let prisoners complete the final few weeks of their sentence as a means of freeing up cells. It is also designed to increase the humanitarian conditions in prisons in compliance with court rulings that have slammed the Israel Prison Service for housing inmates in overcrowded cells. The use of that procedure had been limited to those who were imprisoned for rock-throwing and rioting but not deadly acts, but the new law means that their release will no longer be possible under this mechanism.
Israel Hayom recently reported that potential "ticking timebombs" were not being arrested because of the lack of incarceration room in Israeli facilities. The cell shortage has had the IDF scale back the practice of administrative detention after the Israel Prison Service said it could no longer handle the volume of detainees. "We have reached a situation in which when we look at the arrest list, we ultimately have to strike out names because there is no room in prison," an official told Israel Hayom.
In 2021, some 450 administrative detentions were recorded, while in 2022 this spiked to 900 in the wake of the terrorist uptick. So far in 2023, more than 500 Palestinians have been arrested using this procedure.
But in light of the situation in Israeli prisons, this has slowed recently, and in light of the IPS request, this has resulted in arrests not being carried out in some cases. According to Israel Hayom's reporting, the IPS made several requests to end or lower the intensity of those arrests because they could not properly handle the inflow. As a result, the IDF heeded the request, despite this potentially allowing terrorists to continue plotting attacks that could threaten Israelis.
National Security Minister Iatmar Ben-Gvir, who has championed the new legislation that limits the early parole of light offenders under administrative release, said, "I cannot accept, under my watch, that someone who wants to eliminate the state would have his sentence shortened." He added that non-terrorist prisoners will continue to be released under that procedure. "Terrorists will always have room in prison," he continued." The Shin Bet refused to issue a comment on Bar's warning.
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