Israel suspends Gilboa Prison chief after prisoners escape

A police officer keeps watch from an observation tower at the Gilboa Prison in northern Israel on September 6, 2021 [JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images]

Israeli prisons authorities yesterday temporarily suspended the head of the Gilboa Prison, Freddy Ben-Sheetrit, after six Palestinian inmates dug their way out of the high security jail earlier this month.

Haaretz said that the Israel Prisons Service Commissioner Katy Perry was muling the “possibility of dismissing Ben-Sheetrit from work” but the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was reported to have rejected her request because the investigation into the jailbreak was “still ongoing.”

While Ben-Sheetrit said he would cooperate with the inspectors on the investigation, IPS officials have accused him of “failure”.

Six Palestinian inmates tunneled out of the high-security Gilboa Prison in northern Israel on 6 September. Israeli forces managed to recaptured them after a large-scale manhunt.

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