Prison Service chief says she’ll resign at end of year following spat with Ben Gvir
National security minister recently summoned senior prison officials to complain of treatment of Jewish security prisoners, reportedly irking Katy Perry
Israel Prison Service commissioner Katy Perry announced Thursday that she will end her term at the end of 2023 instead of continuing for a fourth year, as tensions between her and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have risen recently.
According to Hebrew media reports, Perry informed Ben Gvir of her intention just minutes before going public with the announcement, surprising the Otzma Yehudit leader who reportedly said that “she made my job easier by leaving on her own initiative.”
The two clashed over the past week after Ben Gvir summoned senior prison service officers for clarification regarding the treatment of Jewish security prisoners and convicted criminals including Amiram Ben Uliel, who was found guilty of murdering the Palestinian Dawabsha family in 2015.
According to sources close to Ben Gvir, the minister believes that Perry retaliated against the summonings of her subordinates by worsening the conditions of the Jewish security prisoners.
While speaking in front of IPS officers on Tuesday, Ben Gvir said that he was “appalled to hear that Jewish prisoners were sleeping with fleas while in the adjacent cells, terrorists are living in better conditions.”
Since becoming minister, Ben Gvir has devoted a great deal of attention to conditions for Palestinian security prisoners, repeatedly seeking to cut back on what he described as prison amenities. In February, he ordered the IPS to reduce security prisoner shower times to four minutes.
In January, Ben Gvir ordered the removal of ovens for security prisoners in Nafha prison and another facility, saying he wanted to deny imprisoned terrorists perks including fresh-baked pitas. Following the move, Ben Gvir’s detractors began referring to him as “the pita minister.”
Perry was appointed to the position of prison service chief in 2021 by then-public security minister Amir Ohana of Likud.
Her tenure has included the 2022 Gilboa Prison jailbreak, in which six Palestinian security prisoners escaped the Gilboa Prison via a tunnel that they dug, in one of the biggest embarrassments to the IPS in years.
The prisoners were recaptured in the following weeks. Perry repeatedly refused to take any responsibility for the incident.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai will end his term in January and not seek an additional year in his position, it was announced last month, amid ongoing tensions with Ben Gvir. Tel Aviv’s police chief Amichai Eshed announced his resignation two weeks ago, shortly before he was to be shunted aside.
