Background
Hani Masgana was serving a 22-month prison sentence for conspiracy, weapons, and firearms offenses. After his arrest on May 12, 2025, he was held at Ofek Prison, a facility for minors. The arrest report recorded his birth date as April 5, 2008, meaning that prison authorities regarded him as having reached adulthood in April 2026 and began arranging his transfer to an adult prison.
Masgana petitioned the Central District Court to prevent the transfer, asserting that his correct birth date was February 14, 2009 and that he remained a minor. He submitted medical records reflecting that date and explained that, because of his immigration circumstances, neither he nor his mother possessed official identity or travel documents establishing his age. The Israel Prison Service responded that its records derived from police information synchronized with the Population and Immigration Authority’s records. The District Court rejected the petition because the Service had acted on the official registry and Masgana had neither obtained a registry extract nor initiated an age-correction proceeding.
Masgana sought leave to appeal and requested a stay. He argued that the Prison Service lacked adequate administrative evidence for the recorded birth date and that he had learned only recently of the need to pursue formal correction. The Service reported that an updated check with the Population and Immigration Authority confirmed that its computerized systems listed his birth date as April 5, 2008.
The Court’s Holding
President Yitzhak Amit denied leave to appeal. The Court reiterated that leave to appeal from a District Court judgment on a prisoner petition is reserved for exceptional cases presenting a principled question beyond the parties’ individual dispute or requiring review to prevent a miscarriage of justice. Masgana’s claims were fact-specific and met neither condition.
The transfer decision rested on the Population and Immigration Authority’s official registry data. If Masgana believed those data were mistaken, he could have sought a registry extract or brought the appropriate proceeding to correct his age, but he had not done so. The Court did not independently determine Masgana’s true birth date.
The record also contradicted Masgana’s assertion that he had learned of the official age discrepancy only weeks earlier. A March 2026 Supreme Court decision concerning a proceeding initiated in February recorded counsel’s argument that Masgana would soon become an adult under the birth date in state databases, while his mother maintained that he was younger. Because Masgana had known of the issue by February 2026 at the latest yet had not pursued correction, denying leave created no risk of a miscarriage of justice. The accompanying stay application was therefore also denied.
Key Takeaways
- Leave to appeal a ruling on a prisoner petition is granted only exceptionally, ordinarily when the case raises a broader legal question or when review is needed to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
- Prison authorities could rely on the birth date recorded in the Population and Immigration Authority’s systems when deciding to transfer the prisoner to an adult facility.
- A prisoner disputing an officially recorded birth date must pursue the appropriate registry or age-correction procedure; a prisoner petition did not substitute for that process here.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates the limited scope of Supreme Court review in prisoner-petition cases and the practical importance of promptly challenging inaccurate government records through the designated procedure. Even where age determines whether a person will be confined with minors or adults, a fact-specific disagreement ordinarily will not justify a further appeal without a broader legal issue or a demonstrated risk of injustice.
The ruling did not establish that April 5, 2008 was Masgana’s actual birth date. It held only that the Prison Service was entitled to act on the official data before it and that the circumstances did not warrant discretionary appellate review or a stay.