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February 6, 2009
Crime prevention done right
U.S. corrections expert talks about Israeli and Palestinian jails.
RHONDA SPIVAK
Gary Hill, an international consultant in crime prevention and corrections, told the Jewish Students Association in Winnipeg that, when he visited Israeli prisons, he found them to be well run and efficient. This, however, was not the case when he visited the prison in Ramallah, which is run by the Palestinian Authority. Hill, an American Jew, who is president of CEJA Inc., has developed training programs for prison staff in Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other areas of conflict in the world "The Israeli prison system is a well-run, professional organization that does have strict oversight by the court and, if you don't get into the discussion of whether some of the people, especially suspected terrorists, should be in prison or not, there are few who would argue that the prison system is not run humanely," he said.
Hill, who has visited Israel more than 50 times, said he has worked with Israeli prison staff on collaborative programs dealing with the treatment of offenders, including violence against women, community programs and the incarceration of suspected or convicted terrorists.
Hill said he also had an insider's view of the Palestinian justice system between the first and second Palestinian intifadas (1988-2000). During that time, he "worked at the behest of the Saudi government with the prisons in Gaza and Ramallah in the West Bank."
Hill said that under the Palestinian Authority, "The prison in Gaza was well run and humane, and the one in Ramallah was not. In that case, it had to do with the management of the individuals in charge because the [PA] territorial government had neither the training, nor the experience to run a national prison system, and so things were left to the individuals in charge of each institution."
He also said. when he was at the prison in Gaza, then under the governance of the PA, "One-third of the prisoners were criminals, one-third of the prisoners were people that Hamas felt collaborated with the
Israelis and pressured the government to keep imprisoned. The other one-third of the prisoners were felt by the Israelis to be members of organizations they did not trust, such as Hamas, and so they pressured the PA to keep them in prison."
Hill has also developed human rights and criminal training manuals for the United Nations.
He explained that he also "co-ordinates the nongovernmental organizations, individual experts, academics and professional associations who work with the UN's Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice program."
In an article he published in 2005, Hill examined the behavior of terrorists ("security prisoners") in Israeli prisons, 70 per cent of whom had been sentenced for murder. Security prisoners viewed themselves as still involved in the mission of terrorism despite incarceration. The hope of many was to draw the attention of their organizations so they could be named in possible prisoner exchanges. They tried to communicate with their outside organizations through written messages and smuggled cellphones. Hill concluded that the basic strategy of managing security prisoners was to provide legal surveillance while preserving basic inmate rights and to prevent them from directing terrorist activities from within prison.
Regarding the UN's treatment of Israel, Hill said that, "Israel is not accorded the same courtesy and opportunities in the UN structure as just about every other member. There are committees that Israel cannot be part of, and they cannot sit as equals within their regional bloc."
As for the upcoming World Conference Against Racism, or Durban II, as it is known, Hill said, "I think there will be some statements and activities that can easily be interpreted as anti-Semetic, but I don't think the conference itself will be predominantly an anti-Jewish meeting."
Hill also said that the UN has a helpful role to play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The only organization with the ability to provide the type of peacekeeping and peace-building network that will eventually be helpful is the United Nations. The weakness of the UN is that they are an organization of 192 governments, and must get all of their personnel and resources donated by those governments. Each government comes with its own baggage and philosophy. So the effectiveness of the UN... is diminished because of the political pulls from both sides. But other nations [such as France, America or Canada], though they can be helpful and influential on their own, come with their own baggage that one side or the other sees as a detriment. Thus, I think it must be the UN with the ultimate ability to help pull all sides," he said.
Hill said that he favors a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The most practical [solution] is a two-state solution. It's been what has been geared towards for the last several years. That will necessitate some major philosophical compromises by both sides. I think what people don't always understand is that, between the two intifadas, there was a growing business, social and even cultural interplay between Palestinians and Israelis, and when the second intifada started, that interplay came to a halt. The point of that is that, given a period of relative peace, the people, even with 'ancient hatreds' can make a living working together. The Oslo Accord, I felt, provided an excellent framework."
Rhonda Spivak is a Winnipeg freelance writer and the editor of the Winnipeg Post and News.
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