Israeli High Court rules that private prisons harm inmates' rights

Jerusalem - In a ground-breaking decision, Israel's High Court ruled Thursday against the privatization of prisons, overturning a 2004 amendment to the law that allowed prisons to be privately-run and operated. Expressing the majority opinion of the nine-judge panel, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish wrote that the introduction of the profit motive into prisons would harm the inmates' dignity and civil rights.

Justice Edmond Levy, who expressed a minority opinion, wrote that it was too early to determine the effects of the amendment, since the first intended privately-run prison was not yet operational.

The petition against prison privatization, which took four years to decide, was submitted by a human rights group, a former prison warder, and a former prisoner.

It was unclear what would happen to the prison built near the city of Beersheba, which had been intended to be privately-operated.