Katsav arrives at prison to begin 7-year sentence
LAST UPDATED: 12/07/2011 10:39
Former president to be under suicide watch in jail, will share a cell with ex-government minister Benizri (Shas).
Katsav enters Massiyahu prison Photo: Reuters
Former
president and convicted rapist Moshe Katsav made history Wednesday when he became the first president to serve prison time.
Katsav was accompanied by family and close friends as he left his home in Kiryat Malachi, where he was escorted by police into Maasiyahu prison in Ramle. His relatives were not allowed to
enter into the jail with the former president, who arrived shortly after 10:00 a.m.
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He will be placed in the religious wing of the prison,
and will share a cell with ex-government minister Shlomo Benizri of Shas
– a move Prisons Service staff say will ease the shock from the sudden
change of environment.
A warden will
be assigned exclusively to the ex-president to ensure he does not attempt
suicide, Prisons Service chief Aharon Franco said on Tuesday during a Knesset
hearing.
Katsav, who turned 65 on Monday, will be
allowed to wear his own clothes behind bars, though he will have to don Prisons
Service uniform during court appearances, should he make future
appeals.
![Katsav is escorted by police [Reuters]](http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?ID=180468 "Katsav is escorted by police [Reuters]")
The religious wing houses 72 prisoners, is free of televisions,
and inmates spend most of their time in two seminaries studying
Torah.
The inmates also routinely meet with social workers as part of a
rehabilitation program.
Katsav was unanimously convicted in
the Tel Aviv District Court a year ago of two counts of rape, two counts of
sexual harassment, an indecent act using force, and obstruction of
justice. The Supreme Court upheld the Tel Aviv court's sentence following an appeal by the former president's defense.
Even up to his last public statement before leaving his his home in Kiryat Malachi, Katsav maintained his innocence.
"Today, in Israel, a man is executed," he told reporters.
Joanna Paraszczuk contributed to this report.