The conviction and sentencing of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presents unique challenges for Israel Prison Authority and ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) officials. While Olmert and his co-defendants plant to appeal to the Supreme Court, it remains to be seen if they defendants will have to begin serving their sentences and running their appeals from inside prison.

IPA and ISA agents met following the sentencing to begin making arrangements for the incarceration of a former prime minister and the others. One possibility discussed is setting up a special wing for the Holyland defendants. This will permit segregating the former prime minister for security reasons while permitting him to serve his sentence with others as opposed to being in a solitary confinement setting. Other prisoners in addition to the Holyland defendants would join the group but the prisoners will be hand selected to allay security concerns.

ISA agents do not believe that a former prime minister may be in a general prison setting in which too many prisoners and others will have day-to-day contact with Olmert. Such a scenario they explain is untenable from a security standpoint.

The prison authority will hand select the officers who come into day-to-day contact with the former prime minister, and the new wing is likely to be set up in the Ayalon Prison in Ramle or Ella Prison in the south. These are ‘open’ prisons in which inmates are free to walk around as they wish.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)