Government to earmark EUR 88.4m for reducing prison overcrowding

The government has granted 30 billion forints (EUR 88.4m) to the interior ministry for reducing the occupancy rate of Hungarian prisons to 100 percent still this year, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular press conference on Thursday.

Hungarian prisons currently operate at a 115 percent occupancy, Gulyás said. The funds can be used to set up temporary facilities, he said, adding that “the concept of mobile prisons is known outside Hungary, too”.

Read alsoHungarian parliament suspends compensation payments to prisoners

The minister welcomed parliament’s decision earlier this week to suspend compensation payments to inmates in lawsuits brought because of bad prison conditions. It has become “obvious” that an “industry had been built on such cases which has to be halted”, Gulyás insisted.

Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to suspend compensation payments to incarcerated individuals for overcrowded prison conditions pending the results of a national survey.

The legislation they approved also requires the government to bring prison populations down to 100 percent of prison capacity, on average, by September 30.

Read alsoGovernment aims to stop ‘prison business’

Hungary is being sued for more than 10 billion forints in some 12,000 cases filed for prison overcrowding, and the issue will be addressed in a national consultation in March.

Source: MTI