25.08.1996|Judgment|Judgment / Supreme Court
PPA 4463/94 Golan v. Israel Prison Service Judgment
A judgment relating to freedom of expression in general and prisoners' freedom of expression in particular. The judgment acknowledges a prisoner's right to publish a personal column or series of reports regarding prison life in the facility where he is held in a local newspaper. In the judgment, Justice Matza establishes that fundamental human rights "survive" inside prison walls and that a prisoner (or detainee) is entitled to them even within his cell. A prisoner's dignity is just as any other person's dignity and while imprisonment impairs the prisoner's freedom, it must not also impair his dignity. A state which violates the dignity of its prisoners, betrays its duty toward all its citizens and residents to respect fundamental human rights.