The government’s goal is to put an end to overcrowding in prisons by 30 September, and by creating almost three thousand new places, to eliminate the ‘prison business,’ the Justice Minister said on Monday in Veszprém at the joint inauguration of the new annexes of ten prisons.

Judit Varga stressed that reference to inappropriate prison conditions and damages awarded to prisoners and their legal representatives in the magnitude of billions of forints rightfully upset society’s sense of justice. Therefore, the government will resolve this situation by eliminating the grounds for these damages, she pointed out.

Building a prison in a democracy is not among the most popular measures; yet, in the interest of social justice, it often becomes inevitable, Ms. Varga stated.

She said “while the opposition was hoping to achieve its law policy goal by inducing the government to release prisoners, they will be surely disappointed to acknowledge that the opposite is happening”. She stressed that the government believes in conventional principles and a conventional system, that every action has consequences.

Freedom is one of the most important gifts of our human existence, the withdrawal of which is the most severe means of punishment under the rule of law in the interest of the restoration of social balance, the Minister highlighted. She recalled that already at the beginning of our statehood, our first king St. Stephen himself committed to writing that those who violate the rules of law must be imprisoned.

She pointed out that over the centuries, the forerunner of the Veszprém County Prison, the Veszprém fort prison became a county prison from just a single cell. By the beginning of the 2000s, the institution accommodated in the former tribunal building no longer met the requirements of the day in a number of respects, and therefore moved to a new location, qualifying – at the time of its inauguration – as the country’s most modern institution.

The Justice Minister said prisons in the 21st century must meet different expectations than at the time of St. Stephen. They are “complex” places which are simultaneously about punishment and redirecting perpetrators to society after the end of their prison sentences. Employment, education and participation in reparation programmes all help with this, she added.

She highlighted that during their incarceration, convicts work, and this, too, ensures that prisons are places which reflect the fundamental norms of social coexistence, order, work, and individual and collective responsibility.

Ms. Varga stressed that the statutory environment must equally reflect the fact that the government is on the side of the injured and victims. This is why, in addition to the extension of prison facilities, they have adopted a number of measures which primarily serve the best interests of victims. They have decided on suspending the payment of damages, and have presented a bill to Parliament in the interest of focusing on the rights of victims so that they should have the opportunity to claim compensation subsequently also in already closed cases.

Parallel with this, the modernisation of the victim protection system has also begun. Victim protection centres have been inaugurated, providing free legal, psychological and financial assistance, there is a round-the-clock toll-free assistance number for victims, while the system of protected shelters serves to enable us all to live in a safe country, the Minister stressed.

According to the communication of the Hungarian Prison Service, the new annexes of institutions accommodate 110 persons in each of the facilities in Állampuszta, Pálhalma, Sopronkőhida and Szeged, there are 220 new places in the Tököl prison, the institutions in Baracska and Veszprém offer 330 new places each, there are 440 additional places in Kiskunhalas and Tiszalök each, while in Miskolc the new annex offers 550 new places for convicts – 2,750 persons in total. The joint inauguration ceremony for the new annexes was held at the Veszprém County Prison.

They wrote that by September the completed projects will have reduced the occupancy rates of prisons to below one hundred per cent; the total ground space available for the accommodation of convicts has increased by 25,950 square metres.

The built-in steel structures weigh some 510 tonnes, the total plasterboard area is around 18,000 square metres, the length of installed pipes reaches 29,000 metres, the roofs of the buildings are covered by some 28,000 square metres of trapezoidal corrugated sheets, and 941 air-conditioning units have also been installed. The ground space of cells for three persons is 12.5 metres, while the ground space of cells holding six persons is 25.5 square metres.

Commander of the Veszprém institution Éva Németh said with the extension, the institution’s overcrowding rate will fall to below one hundred per cent. She stressed that the new facility provides appropriate conditions both for prison staff and prisoners, complying with the relevant EU norms and regulations.

After the Veszprém commander, the heads of the other nine prisons provided information on their respective enlargement projects online.

(Ministry of Justice/MTI)