68
9. Persons deprived of their liberty at the places of detention visited by the NPM
The physical conditions of placement were excellent in Nagykanizsa. In
Debrecen I turned to the maintainer and to the director of the facility especially in connection with the renovation of the sanitary units and the creation of a safe waiting room.
The visiting delegation noticed that the operating rules of closed and special groups became blurred. In these correctional facilities, juveniles were
placed in extraordinarily restricted units as a form of punishment, in such
conditions that the requirement of legal certainty guaranteed by the principle of the rule of law was not met. I asked the director of the correctional facility to take action and review the practice of punishments, stop humiliating,
collective punishments, elaborate the rules of procedure concerning placement into closed-type groups as a disciplinary measure, and I also requested
that juveniles living with mental and/or psycho-social or other disabilities be
placed in special groups appropriate for their condition.
The visiting delegation made altogether 133 interviews at the two locations. Two thirds of the subjects of the interviews conducted confidentially
were juveniles whereas one third of them were professionals working at
these facilities. In Debrecen and Nagykanizsa, 114 and 79 employees had
a direct relationship with the juvenile detainees, respectively. 98% of the
positions were filled at both locations.
The Operation Decree stipulates148 that if necessary, the custodial service
must be able to provide permanent supervision. The above requirement
was satisfied by both locations. Debrecen and Nagykanizsa employed 17
and 18 law enforcement officers, respectively. At the same time, the Operation Decree prescribes the employment of only one law enforcement officer per facility,149 but this number does not suffice to provide permanent
supervision. Due to the above reason, I suggested that the Operation Decree’s provision regarding the number of law enforcement officers should
be completed and clarified.
9.2.
Detainees in penal institutions
9.2.1. Márianosztra Strict and Medium Regime Prison150
At the time of the visit, the Márianosztra Strict and Medium Regime Prison
(hereinafter the “Prison”) had a holding capacity of 524 detainees. In contrast with that, the number of detainees according to the register was 731
148
149
150
Section 10(1) of the Operation Decree.
Annex 1, Clause 2.2 of the Operation Decree.
Report No. AJB-474/2018.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents