Maasiyahu Prison is a minimum-security prison in Ramle,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, run by the Israel Prison Service.

History

Prisoners who have proven responsible have access to various places of employment and education programs, the right to take vacations from prison, as well as rehabilitative treatment through various methods including therapy animals. Prisoners who have a history of problematic behavior are held under tighter security and are not permitted to take vacations. There is a special wing for religious inmates called the Torani wing, also known as " Beis Medrash Maasiyahu", where inmates spend most of the day praying and studying

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

and other sacred Jewish texts in two seminaries and do not have access to television and newspapers. The whole prison complex is located in the city of Ramla in the Central District of

. In 2002, inmates declared a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

to protest what they viewed as improper medical and legal treatment. In 2004, public workers from the nearby town of Lod, who had not been paid in months, chained themselves to the gates of the prison in a public protest, demanding to be arrested so they could be fed the free prison food. In 2005, a wing of the prison was converted to house those detained while protesting

Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...

's plan to withdraw from 21 settlements in Gaza and another 4 in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. The new wing can house 900 detainees.

Notable inmates

* Baruch Abuhatzeira, rabbi, spiritual leader and son of the Baba Sali * Shlomo Benizri, Israeli politician and member of the

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

party (started as 4 years, reduced to 2 years and 8 months) *

Aryeh Deri Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (; ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician and one of the founders of the Shas political party who served as the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and Minister ...

, Israeli politician and one of the founders of the

ultra-Orthodox religious party (22 months) * Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane (1966–2000), far-right Israeli politician * Meir Kahane (1932–1990), ultra-nationalist American-Israeli politician * Moshe Katsav, former

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...

and convicted rapist (7 years, served 5 years) * Ehud Olmert, former

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...

, convicted in the Holyland Case of

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

while serving as the

mayor of Jerusalem The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusal ...

and later

obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...

(19 months) * Yishai Schlissel, convicted criminal who stabbed marchers at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005 and 2015 (10 years) * Ami Popper, Israeli mass murderer,Yaniv Kubovic
'After bullying Katsav, Jewish terrorist Ami Popper moved to New Prison,'

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

16 October 2012Raanan Ben-Zu
'Ami Popper to be transferred after harassing Katsav in jail,'
Ynet 15 October 2012. * Jaggi Singh, Canadian anarchist, anti-globalization and social justice activists (1 day)

References

{{Coord, 31, 56, 9.25, N, 34, 52, 59.41, E, display=title Prisons in Israel Buildings and structures in Ramla Buildings and structures in Central District (Israel)