In what it says is a world first, an Israeli university will expand its use of a prison to conduct academic research, using prison guards to collect and study data about prisoners, with the ultimate goal of reducing prison terms.

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, and the Public Security Ministry signed an agreement last week to increase the university’s use of Rimonim Prison, northeast of Tel Aviv, as the subject of academic research.

The prison’s unit for sex offenders will be the first to join the program.

The plan, which has the support of Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, was reported on the Walla news portal. No timeline was announced, nor has the ministry allocated funding for the project.

The program calls for the Israel Prison Service to continue to operate Rimonim, with the addition of researchers observing life within the prison walls – somewhat similar to a university teaching hospital.

“We’ve been conducting studies in prisons for years,” said Prof. Natti Ronel of Bar-Ilan’s criminology department. “The twist is the establishment of a partnership with the prison administration, so that the prison guards themselves will gather and study data, and the warden will publish articles together with university professors.”

Ronel said the program is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and that foreign universities have expressed interest in the idea.

The larger goal of the program – and one that Bar-Ilan’s new president, Arie Zaban, is trying to promote – is to improve the rehabilitation of inmates and their successful reintegration into society.

Ronel said he hopes to gather important data on the rehabilitation process, including factors that affect prisoners’ behaviors, including violence. He added that if the program works out as wished, it should eventually lead to shorter prison terms and more furloughs for inmates.

The program calls for researchers to visit the prison frequently, sitting in on staff meetings and following them in their work. Some students will intern in the facility.

“The goal is for some of the prison staff, individuals with the appropriate education, to receive academic appointments. They will come and teach in the university and devise research studies. The prison will continue to operate as usual, but it will become a system that gathers and analyzes data in a methodical manner,” explained Ronel.

The Israel Prison Service said the aim of the program is to “create new tools for deeper research on the fly, to create a [prison] staff that is involved in scientific methods and research, and an academic faculty that makes an active contribution,” said Ronel. “Just as there are university-affiliated hospitals, there will also be a prison that combines advanced research with development treatment methods that are adapted for the prison population. The sex offenders unit in Rimonim and the treatment program within it were chosen to be the pioneers in this project.”