Social justice, cutting poverty and
\nincreasing the standard of living also involve fighting corruption, and the guilty
\nmust be held accountable, including by putting them behind bars. As anywhere
\nelse in the world, Romania’s penitentiaries are filled not only with corrupt
\npoliticians or businesspeople, but also regular people. Imprisonment, whose
\nfinal aim is the correction and subsequent social reintegration of offenders,
\nshould not be understood as extermination. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
However, prisons in Romania are full
\nof insalubrious spaces. Some prisons have running hot water only once every two
\ndays. There are no drug stores in prisons and the law does not allow prisons to
\npurchase medicine, so it sometimes takes days before a sick person receives
\nproper medical assistance. Considering that the legal space of confinement in
\nRomania is below the EU average, prison overcrowding now stands at nearly 145%.
\nAs much as 8,500 new detention places are needed to correct the situation. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The National Prison Authority has
\nrecently made public is activity review. Its chief, Marius Vulpe, explained
\nthat available funds only allow for a less than 10% increase in the needed
\nprison capacity across the country. Marius Vulpe: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We have been allotted money to
\nconduct feasibility studies for two prisons: Caracal and Berceni. Then, we will
\ncreate new detention areas at the penitentiaries in Deva, Codlea and Giurgiu,
\nand we will conduct modernisation works at Deva. Besides, over the coming
\nyears, new detention areas will be created at four locations with financing
\nprovided by Norway Grants. This year we will kick off construction works at the
\npenitentiaries in Vaslui, Baia Mare, Targu Mures and Codlea.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Apart from upgrading detention
\nfacilities, prisoner rehabilitation also plays an important role in combating
\novercrowding. Crime relapse currently stands at 38%. Prisons run reintegration
\nprogrammes, but this has to be done at society level. If prisoners don’t get
\ncommunity support to find a job the moment they walk out of prison, all their
\nefforts at rehabilitation would have been in vain. That being said, the
\nRomanian Government has recently submitted to Parliament a bill on collective
\npardon seen as a solution to ease prison overcrowding. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Also, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu
\nhas announced the Government will call on the European Commission for funds to
\nrenovate prisons and improve inmates’ living standards. Until the situation is
\nsolved, the European Court of Human Rights will continue to fine Romania for
\npoor detention conditions. Last year total fines stood at 1,6 million euros. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The authorities are looking for solutions to ease prison overcrowding in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":70094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38632],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-72317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-prison-overcrowding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n