New Disciplinary Offense at Holot Detention Center — Cat Feeding

Guards of the Israel Prison Service serving at the Holot Detention Center in the Negev have instituted a new offense for which detainees can now be disciplined: cat feeding.

2017-02-27

During a routine visit by activist from the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants – Israel’s leading organization defending the rights of refugees, migrant workers and victims of human trafficking – they were told that some asylum seekers in the facility have recently received fines for giving food to cats.

Detainees in the facility are not allowed to work, and every ten days they receive an allowance from the authorities of 160 shekels. With this money they buy supplementary food (the most complaint at the facility is that the food served at meals is both insufficient and inedible), pay for public transport, and purchase basic toiletry items which are not adequately supplied by the facility.

According to regulations, prison guards may use “disciplinary measures” against detainees; those who have been caught feeding cats at Holot since the introduction of the new measure have been given a fine of 160 shekels – exactly the sum of their 10-day monetary allowance. One of the Hotline activists reacted: “We have heard about unreasonable fines before, but this one represents a new level of creative cruelty.”