The country’s prisons are overcrowded and need to be restructured, the state agency in charge of the system says in its annual report.
TIRANA, Jan. 20 – Albania’s prison system must be restructured to cope with the increase in the number of inmates and improve living standards for the prisoners, an official report on the state of Albanian prisons has concluded. Such restructuring would also involve privatizing part of the system, officials said.
The head of the prison system, Artur Zoto, said that Albania’s prison system is holding almost 1,000 more persons than it was designed for.
There are projects of privatizing some prison sectors and also opening new job placements for the prisoners.
Managing prisons has come to the public light as a main issue of concern, especially following an escape from the high security prison in southeastern Korce district late last year.
Clive Rumbold, an EU official in Tirana, said that despite the assistance of some 60 million euros to the prison sector in the country, the EU is not seeing any improvement of the situation there.
He urged other institutions in the country to assist in such a reform and also focused on the fight against corruption in the penitentiary system.
Robert Wilton, an OSCE representative said, they were taking part and assisting the country in a number of successful projects improving the treatment of people in detention.
“Punishment is only legitimate if it is precisely controlled, within a clear framework of the rights of the individual,” he said, adding that the prison system in Albania has improved significantly over the years, but more is needed to reach the highest standards.
