Israel faces worst prison overcrowding crisis in its history, report warns

Aspects of daily life behind bars include cells so crowded that detainees cannot move without climbing over one another, and inmates sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor for weeks or months.

Israel is facing one of the gravest incarceration crises in its history, according to a report published on Thursday by the Public Defender’s Office, which documents widespread overcrowding, deteriorating sanitary conditions, and critical failures in medical and psychiatric care across 43 prison and detention facilities.

The findings, based on official visits conducted in 2023-2024, show that the system is being pushed far beyond its capacity, primarily due to the dramatic surge in arrests following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS), responding to the report, said the overcrowding crisis has long been known to all relevant government ministries and has been under the Supreme Court’s supervision since its 2017 ruling on minimum living space in prisons.

The IPS stressed that the responsibility for meeting the ruling’s implications “rests on all national authorities.”

Aspects of daily life behind bars, the report shows, include cells so crowded that detainees cannot move without climbing over one another; inmates sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor for weeks or months; extreme heat and suffocating air in unventilated cells; and persistent infestations of bedbugs and cockroaches. In several facilities, detainees collected insects in jars to show inspectors.

Israel-Hamas war and the prison system

At the end of 2024, Israel held roughly 23,000 inmates, far exceeding the legal maximum of 14,500, a 60% surge since the war began.

The emergency legislation passed in October 2023 allowed the IPS to bypass minimum space requirements and the obligation to provide each prisoner a bed. Yet, even with these temporary measures, the system has remained overwhelmed.

The IPS said that since the start of what it termed “Operation Resurrection,” it has absorbed thousands of security detainees from Gaza and the West Bank, which intensified the national incarceration crisis.

Even after the return of most Israeli hostages, in exchange for the release of hundreds of detainees, the service noted that it remains responsible for more than 9,000 security prisoners, nearly double the number held at the start of the war.

Across nearly all facilities visited, inspectors found overcrowding far beyond what Israel’s High Court once ruled compatible with human dignity. In some cases, prisoners slept beneath sinks, under windows, or directly beside toilets.

In Abu Kabir Prison in Tel Aviv, the report found that one cell designed for six detainees held twelve people in November 2024, with only six beds available. Inspectors reported a persistent stench, broken showers, and walls streaked with mold.

At the Nitzan Detention Center in Ramle, the report notes that overcrowding was so severe that inspectors could not physically enter some cells, and dozens of detainees were forced to spend most of the day lying motionless on their beds because no floor space remained.

In several wings, inmates had to step over other prisoners sleeping on the ground to reach the bathroom. One detainee with an amputated leg had no suitable bed and lay on a low cot, while another inmate was forced to sit in his wheelchair due to a lack of space.

In Rimonim Prison near Netanya, inmates reported sleeping on the floor for up to a month. In Ma’asiyahu Prison, also in Ramle, inspectors described “dangerous heat and suffocation,” with elderly inmates falling onto others while trying to navigate the cramped cells.

Poor sanitation was observed in most facilities, as many prisons are housed in aging structures with chronic plumbing failures and dampness.

At Hasharon Prison, wings 9-10 were found with severely deteriorated “squat-style” toilets and a heavy sewage odor hanging over the cellblocks. Inmates reported relentless itching and insect bites, as inspectors also documented “smears of dried blood on walls.”

In Givon Prison in Ramle, detainees collected bedbugs in a jar to show the visiting team; blood stains were visible on the walls from repeated bites. At Rimonim A, cockroaches crawled openly across the prison dining hall and food-heating equipment.

The report found that 11 facilities exhibited serious failures in medical care, particularly in psychiatric treatment. Some detainees considered in immediate need of hospitalization were instead kept in detention facilities, due to a lack of space in psychiatric hospitals.

At the Neve Tirza Prison for women, also in Ramle, the situation was described in the report as “especially grave.” Female inmates at the country’s sole female detention facility with severe psychiatric conditions did not receive any dedicated therapeutic framework; the IPS operates a psychiatric unit (MABAN) only for men.

Women are instead placed in an isolation-type unit known as “the integration wing,” where some spend most hours completely alone in stark, uninhabitable cells. Inspectors encountered extreme deterioration: one inmate had smeared feces on her walls and hurled food at the bars, while others shouted or banged uncontrollably.

By late 2024, about 4,500 inmates were sleeping without a bed each night, including 1,300 criminal inmates and over 3,000 security inmates. Among Palestinians classified as security prisoners, over 90% were held in spaces below the High Court of Justice’s minimum standard of three square meters per person.

Most were confined 23 hours a day in dim, unventilated cells and reported hunger, drastic weight loss, fainting, and routine physical mistreatment.

The prison crisis spilled into police stations, the report noted. In 2023, with IPS unable to absorb new detainees, dozens were held for days or weeks in station holding cells not built for prolonged detention.

Inspectors documented filthy showers, lack of outdoor time, no doctor on site, and in some cases no bedding or basic hygiene supplies.

At the Bat Yam police station, two detainees had been held for 10 days without bedsheets, towels, or clean clothing, while in the Nazareth station, bathrooms were in such disrepair that they were “unfit for human use,” with suffocating air and no ventilation.

IPS staff often cooperated fully with inspectors and, in some cases, repaired hazards immediately, the report notes. But the structural crisis, exacerbated by the war, has outpaced all emergency measures, including new construction, additional monitoring bracelets, and temporary furlough policies.

The IPS emphasized that it is “a security organization on the frontline of incarceration,” responsible for both high-risk criminal offenders and “the most dangerous terrorists.” Despite the risks, the service said, its personnel work to protect public safety “inside and outside the prison walls, in accordance with the law.”

Despite adding more than 1,400 beds through renovations and converting communal spaces into living quarters, the gap between capacity and demand continues to widen.

The IPS stressed that it is advancing accelerated construction projects to add hundreds of new spaces, alongside “innovative rehabilitation processes” for eligible criminal inmates.

It added that it will continue working with the Public Defender’s Office to review and improve organizational practices.

The Public Defender’s Office urged the government to undertake immediate systemic reforms – not only to expand capacity but to restore the minimum conditions of dignity required by Israeli and international law.