Prison guard given 10 months behind bars for beating detainee

The Tel Aviv District Court has sentenced a former prison guard to 10 months in prison for beating a 17-year-old detainee after he asked to speak to his lawyer.

Assaf Levy, a former guard and medic in the Prison Service’s Nachshon unit, assaulted the detainee while his hands and legs were cuffed and then filed a false medical report about the incident.

The incident occurred three years ago in the holding cells of the Bat Yam Juvenile Magistrate’s Court. The 17-year-old asked to speak to his attorney and, when Levy refused, banged against the cell door and spat at guards.

The convicted guard then forcefully slapped him in the face and kicked him into the cell wall, causing him to fall to the floor. Other guards apparently attempted to restrain Levy from beating him further.

Levy later filed a false report about the minor’s injuries, omitting all details of the assault and claiming he had instead slipped on spilled water.

The former guard pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a minor or helpless individual, fraud and breach of trust.

He was originally sentenced to nine months of community service by a lower court, but the decision is successfully appealed by prosecutors, who requested he serve 18 to 30 months’ jail time.

The District Court decides on 10 months in prison, noting that it does not usually impose a maximum punishment on defendants in state appeals. Still, the court calls the case “exceptionally severe.”

“In addition to the brutal violence, this matter involves a breach of basic values by a veteran prison guard, who betrayed his role as someone who is in charge of the detainee’s well-being. Additionally, he betrayed his role as a medic who is supposed to care for the detainee’s health,” judges write in their decision.