African migrants protest detention facility conditions

Detainees at Holot compound say there aren’t enough beds, forcing some to sleep on the floor

By JTA 21 May 2014, 8:19 pm

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African migrants protest outside Holot detention center near Ktsiot, in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, February 17, 2014. (photo credit: FLASH90)

African migrants being held in Israel’s Holot detention facility protested an alleged lack of beds that forced some new inmates to sleep outside.

On Tuesday, hundreds of detainees disobeyed a nightly 10 p.m. curfew, staying outside their rooms until well past the designated time.

On Monday, 29 migrants were transferred to Holot from Saharonim Prison, and inmates claimed that nine of the new arrivals were forced to sleep outside due to a shortage of available beds, according to Haaretz.

Officials from Israel’s Prison Service, which runs Holot, denied the allegations and said beds were available to the new inmates, but they refused them because they wanted to stay together.

Holot, which opened last year as a facility to hold the migrants pending their deportation, now houses 2,300 people. Migrants are sent there by order of Israel’s Interior Ministry.