Outgoing Chief Commissioner Ofrah Klinger was the second-ever woman to head Israel’s prisons, and the first appointed from within the organization’s ranks
Israel Prisons Service acting chief commissioner Asher Vaknin. (Courtesy IPS)
Cabinet ministers on Thursday approved a temporary head for Israel’s prisons service amid continuing delays in nominating a permanent candidate.
Commissioner Asher Vaknin, the current deputy head of the Israel Prisons Service, will take over as acting chief of the service on January 1, the day after Chief Commissioner Ofrah Klinger finishes her three-year term.
Vaknin’s appointment will last until the end of February, when the cabinet must either appoint a new, permanent chief or renew the temporary appointment.
The appointment process may be delayed by a few months after the Knesset voted to dissolve on Wednesday and go to elections on April 9. Outgoing governments traditionally avoid senior appointments in the public service during an election campaign.
Prisons Service Commissioner Ofra Klinger attends an inauguration ceremony for newly appointed Israel Defense Force judges at the President’s residence in Jerusalem on August 15, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Klinger, the second woman ever to head the prisons service — Orit Adato led the organization from 2000 to 2003 — and the first-ever head to be appointed from within the organization’s ranks, will leave her position after 32 years in public service.
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Vaknin has served as her deputy since 2017, before which he was head of Megiddo Prison and Ofer Prison.
Vaknin came to the Prisons Service from the Military Police, where he served as head of the army’s Jail 6 and commanded the Military Police’s training school before retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
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