[3] Upon Israeli independence in 1948, the duty of guarding prisoners was initially left to the newly-formed Israel Police.

In 2011, ICRC maintained a program that enabled Palestinians from the West Bank to visit relatives held in Israeli prisons.

[9] Credible allegations of inhumane conditions are duly investigated by the authorities, which documents the results publicly.

[10] In a report of the Public Defense Office based on unannounced inspections, the living conditions at the facilities, as of 2017–18, were found to be often unfit for human habitation, along with widespread cases of inmates' rights violation.

The state hoped to save money by transferring prisoners to such facilities, which would eliminate the need to invest in more infrastructure and manpower.

In 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the plans, ruling that private prisons are an unconstitutional violation of basic human rights.

[13] Following the decision, the state had to pay compensation to a company that had already completed construction of the first private prison, near Beersheba.

The tasks of the unit include, among others: escorting prisoners and detainees from an incarceration facility to another location, and intervening during irregular events that may take place to establish order and security.

The unit has hundreds of specially designed operational vehicles, from buses to trucks to motorcycles, all of which are adapted to escort the prisoners.

Vehicles serve as mobile prisons, transporting a violent and dangerous sector of society that is very likely to try to escape.