religious prisoners being abused in jail...

Kikar is reporting on a complaint from the "Torani" ward of Maasiyahu prison. The Torani ward of this prison houses religious and haredi convicts who get special dispensations for religious needs and are able to spend more time learning Torah than they would be able to in regular wards of the prison system.

The prisoners in the Torani ward are complaining that the new warden is abusing them or harassing them.

before continuing, a complaint like that ina  prison initially makes me think the warden is making them do backbreaking work that might be undeserved, or maybe he is having his guards hit them or deprive them of food or their time outside or their time in the shul or beis medrash, for whatever reason. We have all seen the movies about evil wardens who abuse the prisoners unde rhis watch.

So how is this warden abusing his felons?

Basically the previous warden was not so strict with the rules and gave the prisoners a lot of leeway in various matters, and the new warden is strictly following the rules. For example, the warden recently saw the prisoners going to the early morning vatikin minyan and saw them before the services drinking coffee and smoking. he decided that this is not what the allowance given for the vatikin minyan is for, so he shut it down and now they can only go to daven at 6:45am.

It seems when they go in to the area of the shul, it has to then be locked. This past Shavuot he did not want to let them stay up all night learning, so he decided that anyone participating must be locked in all night, meaning no bathroom or water would be available to them, and only once every two hours would the gates be opened for them under the watchful eye of a guard to go use the restroom.

And now, during the selichos season, the gates would only be opened for 15 minutes to allow people in early for selichos, and whoever gets in can participate and whoever misses it, even if just by a moment, is stuck.

And now, in advance of Sukkos, the warden decided he would not allow the prisoners to sleep outside in the sukka. It seems they are not allowed to, according to the rules, but the previous warden was lax on this and allowed it, so the tradition of 12 years is now being broken, as the new warden said he will not allow it. 

I don't know what they deserve and what they don't deserve. I don't know what rights they have coming to them and what prison is meant to deprive them of. But I have a hard time feeling bad for them over this serious "abuse" and "harassment". 

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------