Omri Sharon to be released early for 'good behavior'

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Former MK Omri Sharon will be released from prison in the next few weeks, rewarded for his "good behavior" by being freed after serving five months of his nine-month sentence, the Israel Prisons Service announced on Monday. Sharon was imprisoned for perjury, keeping fraudulent records of corporate documents and violating the Political Parties Funding Law. A Tel Aviv District Court later reduced Sharon's sentence to seven months, before a Prisons Service council from the Ma'asiyahu Prison in Ramle, where Sharon is being held, decided to release him in three weeks. The council was shown a record of Sharon's conduct behind bars, and concluded that his behavior had been "appropriate" since he was incarcerated on February 27. Speaking to Army Radio, the former Israel Prisons Service Commissioner Orit Adato said "a number of aspects are examined" by the council in its decision on whether to grant a prisoner early release. "The council looks at the prisoner's background," she said. "Is this his first violation; has he been in prison in the past; did he behave appropriately during his incarceration; is there intelligence that he engaged in negative activities outside of the jail, and does he have a rehabilitation program?" "I believe some of these aspects are less relevant for criminals of Sharon's type," Adato added. For more than four months, Sharon shared a cell with several other prisoners at Ma'asiyahu Prison, which he entered one day after his comatose father, former prime minister Ariel Sharon, turned 80. On the day Sharon entered prison, Prisons Service spokesman Yaron Zamir said, "We're not making any special preparations. He will be in a normal prison cell with other prisoners who have been jailed for a variety of offenses." Ma'asiyahu Prison is a low-security facility that can hold up to 900 inmates.