The State’s Supervision and Control Mechanisms

Around the world a value dilemma is acknowledged concerning the delegation of the state’s powers to civilians. In the context of prisons, there is the fear that the quality of service to prisoners will suffer from the desire to maximize profits (e.g. by recruiting low-grade staff, by minimal spending on living conditions and prisoner care). Israel has chosen to conduct its privatization process with caution, deliberation and careful calculation. As a first phase, only one experimental facility will be constructed and no less than three separate layers of supervision and control of the concessionaire have been put in place. They are as follows:

Legislation and Legal Process
(a) The concessionaire will be subordinate to the provisions of the Prisons Ordinance [New Version], 1971, and to the regulations and directives issued by the IPS Commissioner under the powers vested in him by the Ordinance. Any necessary modifications to these provisions will be specific, consensual and made through standard legal channels. 
(b) The powers delegated to the concessionaire will be restricted by legislation to what is strictly required for operating a correctional facility. Certain powers the state has retained exclusively to itself, among them the classification and allocation of prisoners to the private facility, the punishment of prisoners, the length of leave periods and the frequency of visits, and the review of requests for leave or early release. The state and the state alone determines a prisoner’s sentence, the duration of his imprisonment, the facility in which he will serve his sentence, and any administrative release or reduction of the duration of his imprisonment.
The concessionaire is permitted no discretion in the granting or withdrawal of benefits to prisoners (e.g., leaves, visits, telephone calls, medical treatment, food) beyond what is standard practice in IPS facilities.
(c) The judicial supervisory mechanism will remain in place whereby prisoners have the right to appeal to the courts (at no cost) if they feel their rights have been violated.
  
External Oversight Bodies
(d) The State Comptroller-General has the right to examine any aspect of the concessionaire’s operation of a prison, with the exception of his commercial activities.
(e) An External Advisory Committee to the Minister of Public Security, the IPS Commissioner and the Knesset Interior Committee, headed by a retired District judge and composed of outside professionals, will be set up to monitor the rehabilitation, health and welfare of prisoners housed in the privately-run facility.   

Internal Audit
(f) Contractual commitment:  A detailed contract will be drawn up with the concessionaire, containing dozens of specific requirements relating to every aspect of prison life and setting out minimum performance standards equating to the best practice in IPS facilities. Any failure to meet a contractual commitment will be considered a breach of contract and heavily fined. Repeated and sustained failures will lead to the rescinding of the contract and the state taking over management of the facility, compensation to the concessionaire being limited to his investment in structures and equipment.
(g) IPS Inspection Team: In addition to the above system of monetary fines for non-performance and other incentives designed to protect the rights of inmates, the concessionaire will be held answerable by a special inspection team the IPS will set up  by the IPS and permanently stationed in the new facility. The team will conduct continuous close and detailed oversight over of the level, quality and character of the service given by the concessionaire and his respect for prisoners’ rights. The inspectors will possess comprehensive and immediate powers of interrogation, intervention, search and punishment.
(h) The IPS will retain oversight over the training and certification of prison officers in the privately-run facility. Every prison officer in the facility must receive prior IPS approval, with the IPS also retaining the right to require his replacement. Staffing levels and performance standards, as well as training programs and graduation tests, will all be under IPS supervision.