On March 25-th 2002, two representatives of APADOR-CH visited the penitentiary of Margineni.
The penitentiary - of maximum security, destined especially for sentences of over 10 years of imprisonment - had the following number and structure of detainees at the date of the visit: total – 1614, out of whom 68 young ones( aged 18-21), 15 underage and 42 convicted for petty offences. (Examining the file of Dumitru Negriloaia, convicted for petty offence, the representatives of APADOR-CH found that he had to serve a term in prison of 90 days of detention following the transformation of a fine into days of imprisonment. His file did not include the court ruling, in exchange, on March 1-st 2002, when he had alreadu served 52 days of prison, Negriloaia had filed an application to the Racari court to benefit from the provisions of Law 82/1999; until the date of the visit, the detainee received no answer).
The legal capacity of detention of this unit (6 c.m/detainee) is of 1175 places and the number of installed beds is 1747. Until March 20-th 2002, the unit had accommodated approximately 2000 detainees, out of whom until the date of the visit, around 400 detainees had been transferred to other penitentiaries. The transfers were made - and will continue in the next period of time - because one of the two pavilions of detention will undergo capital repair work as of April 1-st. The repair work is scheduled to last until the end of this year, according to the penitentiary management; the necessary funds are provided by GDP.
The total number of officers is 341, out of whom 229 work in the operative sector. The unit has a deficit of 28 officers (11 officers, 16 unlisted officers and 1 military master).
About 800 detainees work in the furniture factory that belongs to the Regie Autonome “Multiproduct”. The factory has orders of "small furniture" especially for export and the detainees get an average monthly salary of about 2 million lei (they get 10% of this amount, after the legal taxes are paid). Usually, about 900 detainees work in the factory, however, at the time of the visit the number was smaller by 100 following the transfers that the unit had to make because there were no detainees in the penitentiary to meet the requirements of being used at work in the factory. Unlike the situation found in the previous visits, the representatives of APADOR-CH found that the "period of initiation" in the productive activity was provided for only for the unqualified detainees and not for the qualified ones. The supervisors in the factory are transferred to Margineni by the GDP. On the visit to one of the workshops of the factory, the association representatives found out two aspects that should be in the attention of the penitentiary - the detainees work effectively 9 hours and a half in the workshop; because of the obviously deficient ventilation there was a lot of sawdust from the circular sea-saws and from the wood polishing.
Another 120 detainees work in different other locations: at GAZ (about 30, without guard), at the unit carpentry workshop (40), at the own car service workshop (3-4 detainees), at the bookbindery for the National Library (between 2 and 6 detainees, according to the orders), at the street cleaning and other works inside the penitentiary. Positive is the fact that the penitentiary can negotiate with the beneficiaries of contracts even below the minimum salary by economy. However, they are able to put up conditions which eventually are in the advantage of the unit and of the detainees (for instance, employing a big number of detainees for as long a time as possible).
The vegetable and cattle breeding farm has 40 hectares of arable land owned by it, and 52 hectares on lease. The animal farm has 750 swine, 90 cattle and 600 poultry.
There are 45 "very dangerous" detainees in the penitentiary. Some of them are accommodated in ordinary rooms, and the others - "the violent ones", the "instigators", those with attempted escapes, about 12 in all - in separate rooms, in section IV. The penitentiary representatives said that an analysis of the "dangerous" detainees is made monthly and that 3-4 of them are taken out of this category. The fact that another 3-4 detainees are introduced in that category made the association representatives wonder whether these monthly analyses could be formal and lacking the effectiveness that they should normally have. In cases of breaches of the Internal Regulation, "the agent" draws up "an incident report" which he/she gives to the officer in charge of discipline. After preliminary verification, the officer in charge of discipline submits the report to the penitentiary director who decides whether to start or not the disciplinary procedures provided for by the regulation. If yes, the discipline commission hears the respective detainee and the possible witnesses and establishes the punishment. If he/she is discontent with the commission decision, the detainee can challenge it first at the unit director and then, if necessary, at the prosecutor entrusted with supervising the execution of punishments. It is a positive fact that the detainees are heard in all the cases, regardless of the gravity of the misconduct and the sanction envisaged to be applied. Although initially the penitentiary management said that chains were not used, during the visit, the APADOR -CH representatives found several cases when this means of immobilization was used.
There were 3 detainees in execution of disciplinary punishments, and 3 others in restrictive regime. The situation of these detainees is examined once in three months. After the execution of 1/3 of the punishment, they can receive visits but only with the approval of the director and only if they have a good conduct. They can receive and send letters, can receive 1/4 of the ratio of cigarettes provided for the usual detainees but they do not have the right to receive parcels. The APADOR-CH representatives reiterated their opinion - the same with that of the European Committee for Prevention of Torture - that as long as food in the penitentiaries was not enough, including from the point of view of the legal nutrition norms, the punishment with the suspension of the right to a parcel should be given up. Monthly, the unit director has meetings with the room representatives whom he informs on the major issues of the unit and consults them in connection with the problems and general wishes of the detainees.
The court of Moreni practically accepts 100% the proposals for parole that the penitentiary submits to it. A probation office was set up with the Dambovita Court and in the coming period the penitentiary will sign a protocol with this office to include the concrete ways in which the detainees released could benefit from assistance.
The unit sends to the GDP a report every month with the situation of the detainees who have problems of a medical nature and/or family or social.
The daily exercise of the detainees lasts - including on Saturdays and Sundays - about one hour and a half and during a week all the rooms go out, in turns, for sports activities (for about one and a half hours, two hours).
Two public phones are installed wherefrom the detainees who have cards can call once a month (and whenever there are special problems).
The penitentiary officials have said that the medical service has no particular problems that cannot be solved, provided the third general practitioner comes back (or another doctor is employed). As the Military House for Health Insurance has debts to pay to the County Hospital, the penitentiary signed protocols with two private health units (every week three doctors and a laboratory for specialty medical tests come to the unit). Only the emergencies and the expertise are sent to the Targoviste hospital. The rule is that the detainees who are in civilian hospitals are not handcuffed (exceptions are the dangerous detainees, those who are violent with the medical staff or who have attempts to escape). The APADOR-CH representatives reiterated the requirement of the European Commission for Prevention of Torture that the detainees who are in hospitals should not be handcuffed. Such a requirement is the more so pertinent as in Romania's case in the penitentiary system the detainees who are in hospitals are permanently guarded by armed unlisted officers.
For lunch they had peasant soup and beans with pickles for all, and for diet clear soup with dumplings and stew. For lunch they had used 70 kg of pork, 150 kg of pork by-products and 12 kg of lard. The food looked well. There was meat and pork products in the soup and more pork products in the beans; the impression of the association representatives was that in the pots there was not all the quantity of meat that was in the books. In the morning they had tea, margarine and biscuits, for all, and tea, marmalade and rice for diet. In the dishwashing room the air was non-breathable because of the steam and there was dampness and dank.
Water supply is a problem that the penitentiary is facing. The only well of the unit is 7- km away and has an insufficient flow. The water runs during meals and in accordance with the “administrative program”. For the rest of the days and nights, the prisoners use the reserves that are kept in water bowls. The unit management hopes to find a solution this summer by connecting (with subscription) to the I.L. Caragiale commune water, a network that is in the investment plan of the local council; For the bath, the hot water is provided once a week, by their own exchange.
There are two sports grounds - one for football and one for volleyball and foot tennis (the intention is to arrange a bowling track, too). A de-commissioned hall is about to be arranged as a sports hall for the detainees.
In room 33 (section IV-a) there were 2 detainees and 9 beds. The 2 detainees asked to be move here as there had been an attempted sexual assault on them by their mates (the assault did not take place because the staff stepped in). The detainees said the food was good ("better than in other penitentiaries"). They are given razor blades, soap, toilet paper. A problem is that as they are in section IV, of the "dangerous" detainees, the 2 detainees are not taken out to the sports ground (in exchange they are taken to the club once a week, where they play table tennis). Newspapers are received every day (the penitentiary has 114 subscriptions) and there is a TV set in the room which the detainees can watch according to the following schedule 9.00 to 12.00, 18.00-19.00 and 19.30 - 22.00. There is a standing water closet in the room, separate from the rest of the room by a wall only 1.5 m high.
In room 34, solitary confinment, there was no detainee. There are 2 beds made of concrete and the lavatory had a standing water closet separate from the rest of the room by a wall about 1.5 m high.
In room 35, for restrictive regime, there was detainee Alexandru Radulescu, on a life sentence and 1 year of restrictive regime. In 2001, the detainee had an attempted escape from the Jilava penitentiary, a fact following which he was beaten by the penitentiary officers and kept in chains for 6 months. On December 14-th 2001 he was transferred to Margineni where he was also kept in chains for several days. Radulescu complained that the chains were so heavy that they almost fractured his tendons. He is taken out for exercise every day, alone, for one hour (down to the exercise yard he is handcuffed). He said the food was better than in Jilava, but he had some small dissatisfactions, like that the supervisors do not give him a lighter ("If I wanted to put the room on fire I surely could do it after the supervisor lit my cigarette", he told the association representatives. The detainee knew - "from an inspector in GDP", with whom he had a talk - that for 1 year he would not have a right to visits. The penitentiary officials told him that according to the regulation he would be given back the right to receive visits after executing one third of the disciplinary punishment and if he had an adequate conduct. There were 3 metallic beds in the room, one of them with barracks equipage and sheets. The lavatory had a concrete sink and a standing water closet, separated from the rest of the room by a wall only 1 meter high.
In room 36, restrictive regime there was detainee Emil Gavris, who had been put there for 9 months because in August 2001 he ran away from the Targoviste Court. After doing this, Gavris was kept for two or three days in chains and his hands tied up with handcuffs to the bed. Gavris complained about the fact that he was taken to the visit (with his mother and sister) in handcuffs and escorted by two unlisted officers with cagoules (during the visit the handcuffs were taken away). He is taken to the medical ward in the same way. He is taken out for exercise alone every day for one hour. The lavatory and the beds were identical with those in room 36. Because the regulation forbids it, the rooms for restrictive regime have no TV sets, loudspeakers or radio sets. One of the penitentiary psychologists had a talk with Gavris.
Room 37, also for restrictive regime, had 3 beds, two had barracks equipage and sheets on them. Here there were two detainees, Sorin Rebeca and Aurel Hruskovski. Both had 6 months of restrictive regime each, the first because he cut another detainee at the foot, with the razor, and the second because he left the work place for two hours and a half. They said the food was good. They are taken out for exercise together every day, including on Saturday and Sunday, for one hour. They receive the newspapers every day and can send and receive letters without restriction as to their number. On Mondays and Fridays the librarian comes to the rooms and they can borrow books.
In room 38, there were detainees for life, considered "dangerous"; there were 3 beds and 3 detainees. Valeriu Curin complained that he had been transferred from one penitentiary to another without any explanation (more often than not unjustified, he said). There were cases when the transfer was done in an hour, in one case without him being able even to pack. Another complaint of Curin was that in Margineni there were too many restrictions - as compared to Rahova and Galati, he said - as regards the objects that he can have on him in his room. He gave the example of a TV set, that is installed between the two rows of bars at the entrance in his room and of the needles which he would like to have in order to do some embroidery. The association representatives confirmed the hobby of the detainee (whom they met in other penitentiaries previously visited). In December 2001, right after being transferred from the Galati penitentiary, Curin was kept in chains for two weeks.
Detainee Sandu Cozianu was transferred 3 months ago from the Jilava penitentiary where he said was kept in chains. He said he was content with the way he was treated, of the food and medical assistance. Ion Stoica had been transferred from Rahova for judiciary affairs. The detainees in this room too asked that, when they are not doing any activity - and in most of the cases they do not - they should be given the possibility of watching TV longer.
In room 16 (section II) there were 30 beds and 30 detainees ("stationary", convicted with big sentences). The detainees who had been there for a longer time said that there were cases when the room was over crowded, and they slept 4 in 2 beds. The daily exercise, including on Saturday and Sunday takes about one hour, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they take part in sports activities for about one and a half hours every time. The lavatory consisted in a separate room with 2 metallic sinks and 2 standing water closets. Here, too, a longer program to watch the TV was requested (in addition, the detainees want that their room too be connected to the cable TV; at the time of the visit they could only watch the 2 channels of the public television station). Detainee Radu Popescu was included in the category “dangerous” because in 1991, he disserted from the army and he disarmed the soldier on duty. The penitentiary file and every order of transportation of the detainee from one penitentiary to another had the label "dangerous - escape (?!) from the army and assault of an officer" on it. The detainee admits that he had several incident reports in various penitentiaries (most of them for conflicts with other inmates) but he contested vehemently such a report done at Poarta Alba, on July 18-th 2000, for "instigation". In the penitentiary file the incident report says:" the detainee instigated the other detainees thus creating some tension on grounds that the food was not good enough “. The "instigation" resulted in isolation, him being kept in chains and - the detainee said - beaten. Radu Popescu sent a complaint to GDP but the response to it of September 5-th 2000 said the complaint regarding Poarta Alba "was not confirmed". The APADOR-CH representatives agree that Radu Popescu is a difficult detainee who sometimes makes his own justice in conflicts with other detainees. However it is not normal that he be labeled "dangerous" for a fact (for which he was convicted anyway) committed 11 years ago in an institution outside the penitentiary. The association representatives consider as not natural the accusation of "instigation" for the mere reason that a detainee said he was unhappy with the quality of food. The APADOR-CH representatives require the social educational department of the Margineni penitentiary, especially the psychologists, to attach greater attention to detainee Radu Popescu, whose aggressiveness is most likely due to personal frustrations.
Detainee Kajcsa Emil is 70 years old and has a conviction of 12 years, out of which he executed 5 years and 3 months. His mother lives in Brasov, a reason for which the detainee asks to be transferred to the Codlea penitentiary. He has never posed any disciplinary problems and insisted that, in case a final transfer is not possible, the possibility should be analyzed of a temporary 2-3 month transfer, for his mother to visit him. A problem of transfer - even temporary - was raised also by Jenica Raduc (sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment). His entire family is in Bacau. Both parents are ill and he has four underage brothers. The detainee has filed 15 applications to GDP and all were rejected.
In room 21 (section III) there were 15 underage and 15 beds. (the underage had just returned from sports activities, where they played football for an hour). The daily exercise lasts for about 2 hours. There is a TV set here too but the detainees have expressed the same wish to be able to watch TV for a longer time in order to cover also the time when they are not involved in any activity. There is also a loudspeaker and the detainees receive the newspapers every day. Every month they are given razor blades and shaving cream, toilet paper and soap. Four of the underage attended literacy classes. The other 11 - all graduates of 8 grades - have daily discussions with the psychologists. There was a cabin and a standing water closet and a metallic sink in the room. Negative is the fact that the underage - especially those who did not have final convictions - are compelled to wear penitentiary uniforms. Similarly, the association representatives expressed their disagreement with the appointment as “room chiefs” of adult detainees to rooms with underage.
For providing medical assistance to the detainees the penitentiary has 3 general practitioners, 1 dentist and 9 nurses (out of whom 1 pharmacist and 1 dental technician). A problem is that one of the general practitioners has been absent for some time (he is on medical leave, probably trying to retire). On the date of the visit the program of the doctors was 8.00 to 15.00 hours daily plus one afternoon a week, but as of the coming days there will be a doctor on duty in the rest of the afternoons, as well. About 100 consultations are made daily (the most frequent diseases are those of the respiratory system). The medical records show that there are 17 detainees with syphilis ("negativized", in consolidation of the medical treatment after having been in the Jilava hospital penitentiary). The association representatives retained as a positive aspect that the detainees are made HIV tests only if they are provided counseling by the medical staff of the unit and only with their written consent. The detainees can receive medicine from home only on the basis of prescriptions released by the medical ward of the penitentiary. In case of detainees with wounds are brought from the police custody the medical ward receives them only if the police has carried out the medical examinations required. Otherwise, the detainees are rejected and this is noted down in a special registry for "the rejected”. The association representatives inquired about the case of detainee Nicolae Maghiran, convicted for 5 and a half-year for robbery. The detainee - who was in the penitentiary hospital of Colibasi - has both his legs amputated and recently he had an arm amputated, too. The APADOR-CH representatives noted down that the medical ward needs an electro-cardiograph. A positive fact is that medical assistance for the penitentiary staff is provided by a woman doctor who takes care exclusively of the officers.
In the infirmary, in the acute disease room, there were 5 patients and 7 beds. Detainee M.T. – 45 years old, convicted to 25 years of imprisonment - was there for ulcer, diabetes and asthma. The daily exercise of the detainees takes about one hour and a half. The detainees were content with the food and with the way they are treated medically.
The lavatory, in a separate room, had a sink, 1 small tub for feet and 2 cabins with toilets in.
The department staff consists of 4 officers, 4 unlisted officers and 1 priest. 4 important programs - of juridical, civic and moral-Christian education - were underway; one for literacy, as well. According to the department representatives, the detainees show greatest interest in the juridical education program (“Educolex”). They work on groups of 30 detainees; the duration of the program is 3 months. School courses are organized (grades I-VIII) and training courses for carpenters, as part of the R.A. Multiproduct factory. The 2 psychologists of the penitentiary are mostly concerned with the two programs for reducing depression and aggressiveness of the detainees. They work on cycles of 5-6 months with groups of maximum 10 detainees. The underage have daily programs for occupational therapy. The psychologists do not have special program for the three detainees with life sentences in the penitentiary. Although they have understood that the penitentiary does not have this profile, for detention of those sentenced to life imprisonment, the APADOR-CH representatives consider that if there are such persons in the penitentiary, the educational-cultural department should include this category among its priorities. The department has had in view the organization of activities jointly with institutions of culture in the community. In the past two years exhibitions of iconography and decorative art have been organized in the municipality of Targoviste at which the detainees exhibited their own works. Especially during this year, the "I.L.Caragiale year" theatre performances, stands and presentations of books and projection of slides will be organized. Almost all the detainees with religious beliefs are Orthodox and the penitentiary priest is Orthodox too. There are 22 Catholics in the penitentiary; at the date of the visit the latter made preparations for Easter. A Catholic priest from Targoviste comes to the penitentiary when he is asked to and the Orthodox priest does not attend the meetings of the representatives of other denominations with their believers.
The Humanitarian Service for Penitentiaries and the Christian Mission for Penitentiaries hold regularly activities of religious education.
The rule is that the detainees can receive visits from close relatives. In the other cases, the detainees submit an application to the commander; this application has always been approved. The two public phones are installed in the visits sector. A telephone conversation cannot last more than 10 minutes and the supervisor officer hears what the detainees are talking. Simultaneously there can be 7 ordinary visits and 2 to the cabins, for the detainees considered dangerous. The way it is arranged, the room for receiving parcels allows the detainees to see what is in them and what the officers are doing while controlling them.
The detainee is accommodated in section IV – for the detainees considered dangerous - and was transferred from the Rahova penitentiary on December 14, 2001, together with other 11 detainees. Popescu said the transfer took place shortly after the "scandal of colonel Trutulescu" (the disclosures of some journalists who found that the respective colonel rtd., detainee in the well known case "Tigareta II" often went out in Bucharest, for personal interests, with the complicity of the officers). Some officers of Margineni told Nicolae Popescu and the other detainees brought from Rahova, informally, that they had been transferred because "they know too much about the corrupt officers". More than that, the head of the section insisted with the penitentiary director that Popescu be kept in section IV because he belonged to "the gang of Miron Cozma". The detainee was transferred from Bucharest although he has judicial affairs at the Supreme Court of Justice and his family lives in the capital city. He is discontent with his transfer and with the fact that he was put in the section of "dangerous" without any official explanation. Moreover, he has never had any incident report and the officers have nothing to reproach to him reading his behavior and activity. Although he did absolutely nothing to justify his being put in the category of “dangerous” he is kept in this section, wherefrom he is brought out only between 10 and 30 minutes daily, he cannot get sports gear and take part in sport activities and he is taken to his lawyer with handcuffs and guard. "If I was wrong I have to be told, punished, but I need my situation to be clarified" asked the detainee from the APADOR-CH representatives. He said he benefited from two interviews with the penitentiary director but so far his request has not been solved.
During the visit to the penitentiary, the association representatives met with detainee Leanca, a youngster of about 20 years old, while he was going to the visit (his parents were on visit). The detainee was handcuffed and was escorted by two unlisted officers from the intervention sub-unit, dressed in black rolls - typical for anti-terrorist troops - with cagoules, armed with machine guns and equipped with an entire arsenal for immobilization and telecommunications. When seeing the APADOR-CH representatives and the penitentiary officials the detainee implored them desperately not to be brought in front of his parents with handcuffs and guard. He said he was shocked of the manner in which he was treated, the more so as so far he received the visits at table, without being subject to so special measures as on that day. At the intervention of the penitentiary officials - who mentioned that such measures are taken since the start of the year, following the orders of GDP - the detainee was taken off the cuffs.
Generally, there is no tension between the detainees and the officers in the penitentiary. This is explained especially by: the preoccupation of the penitentiary management with knowing and solving the problems of detainees, as well as with better provision of the material and financial resources of the penitentiary; providing a program of daily exercise, including on Saturdays and Sundays, for about one and a half hours; the organization of sports activities with the detainees; securing quality medical assistance and food which most of the detainees said was good; involvement to a satisfactory extent of the cultural-educational department in the organization of the activities with the detainees, including by providing them with TV sets (there are 55 TV sets in the penitentiary) in each and every detention room. The good situation is also favoured by the fact that about 900 detainees have the possibility of working permanently (as well as the fact that the number of detainees at the date of the visit was by about 400 less than usual, because of the transfers required by the repair work for the two detention pavilions).
APADOR-CH considers that at Margineni there are premises for the further improvement of the situation in the penitentiary. In this respect, the association appreciates that it is necessary, at the level of the penitentiary:
The association considers that the GDP should:
Manuela Stefanescu
Valerian Stan