Report on the visit to the Vaslui penitentiary
On October 29-th, 2002, two APADOR - CH representatives visited the Vaslui penitentiary.
1. General conditions
Having a legal capacity (6 c.m per person), the penitentiary should host a maximum of 538 persons. At the date of the visit, the effective number of detainees was 1005 persons, that is twice its capacity. The installing of supplementary beds (total of beds - 849) does not solve the overcrowding problem.
The recent pardon law had in view only 39 detainees¸ out of which 14 are petty offenders (unpaid fines turned into term in prison).
Out of the total of 1005 detainees, 981 are men (including 34 minors) and 24 are women (including one minor). Only 97 are in pretrial detention, out of which 17 are minors. Although the number of the pretrial detainees is relatively low, APADOR - CH continues to sustain the idea that minors should not be held in detention - neither pretrial, nor, even to a lesser extent, sentenced - (except for certain offenses such as especially serious crimes), they should be the first to benefit by the system of “probation” that is the alternative to incarceration.
Only 84 detainees were used for wage labour, while 133 detainees were doing services in favour of the penitentiary (74 on the agricultural - zoo-technical farm and 59 for catering). 217 in all that is less than a quarter of the total number of detainees.
111 staff members are engaged in the operative activity, which gives an average of 10 detainees for one staff member. APADOR - CH requests from DGP (General Directorate of Prisons) to analyze the possibility of employing 27 more staff members, up to the completing of the staff list (138 staff members).
The Vaslui penitentiary officials would like to take over an empty building that belonged to the military unit (UM) 01534. Unfortunately, the negotiations started even from 1998 have not been finalized yet. The taking over and the arranging of that building would solve, at least partially, the problem of overcrowding in this penitentiary.
The penitentiary has a store where the detainees may buy what they need, on a list basis. Unfortunately, only a maximum of 10% of them have money in their personal accounts.
A constantly raised problem by APADOR - CH is the obligation of the detainees - including women, minors and the pretrial detainees - to wear the penitentiary uniforms. During the morning and the evening roll calls, and whenever they leave their rooms they have to wear only those clothes coming from the MApN and MI stocks. For about 2 years, there have been forbidden the training suits (still, they allow a pair of civilian trousers, if white braids are laterally sewn on). The measure has been taken following certain escapes, the civilian clothing making the tracking of the escaped detainees difficult. The association does not consider that, for some isolated cases, the whole population from the penitentiaries should suffer (about 50,000 persons). The women complain that the penitentiary clothing they wear when they go to the receiving room for their visits shocks the children who come to see them. The men have the same problem too and, moreover, the women have two sets of uniforms, whereas most of the male detainees have only one. The laundering of the uniform and the maintaining of the body cleanness are done with difficulty. APADOR - CH also visited penitentiaries where wearing the uniform was not compulsory, a fact that had a positive impact over the relations among the detainees and over those between the detainees and the prison staff . The association suggests to DGP, as a first step, the taking of the following measures:
a) the eliminating of the obligation to wear the penitentiary uniforms imposed on the pretrial detainees, women and minors (except for the circumstances when the detainees have no decent civilian clothes);
b) the wearing of the uniform only by the detainees taken out for labour; (with the exception of the circumstances when , for the carrying out of certain works inside the penitentiaries, civilian workers are employed too).
In the association’s opinion, the tendency should be towards the total doing away with the obligation of wearing the penitentiary uniform. That is why, its representatives have been unpleasantly surprised to hear that the Vaslui penitentiary has the task to purchase 2000 more military uniforms from MApN.
The Vaslui penitentiary has no semi - open section as there are no detainees meeting the criteria established by DGP. The specific nature of the penitentiary has in view the category of detainees sentenced for up to 10 years, but, there are also detainees sentenced for longer than that (including the life sentences) who are brought, temporarily, for various trials on roll at the courts from Vaslui.
A special situation took place on February 14-th, 2002. The detainee Nastase Marius Marcel (born 1975) was on pretrial detention on account of the charge of raping a minor. Undoubtedly, the “cordless phone” is fully working in any detention place. The detainees are immediately informed who was imprisoned and for what offence. In Nastase’s case, rumour was that he was a pedophile. After the 21 days of quarantine, he was moved to a “quiet” room - the overseers say - in which, several minutes after he entered it, he was beaten up by another detainee (Calin Mihai) and killed. The medical certificate of proof of death mentions “ meninx hemorrhage with ventricular blood flooding; the rupture of vertebral artery and cervical traumatism” The detainee Calin is under investigations done by the Prosecution office for aggravated murder. The problem raised by APADOR - CH refers to the obligation of the staff to insure protection for any of the detainees held in their custody, irrespective of the nature of the offense he perpetrated. The explanations of the staff regarding “ the moral values” of the detainees who would accept murder but would detest pedophiles (or the raping of a minor) cannot be any kind of justification for what happened. The staff had the legal obligation to prevent a violent reaction against Nastase, even more so that they knew the rumours regarding Nastase and they also knew the detainees’ mentality concerning that kind of offense The lady who is the psychologist - whose activity is remarkable - declared that she discussed, several times, with detainee groups on the theme “ the justice making attitude among the detainees “ and she considers that she already managed to make some progress. APADOR - CH requests supplementary information regarding this case (whether some kind of internal investigation has been done, whether there existed sanctions for the staff, whether there have been established measures for preventing such situations, etc). In the association’s opinion, the eventual sentencing of the offense author is not sufficient.
2. The visit inside the penitentiary
2.1 Feeding unit
The ventilation system is not in use because of its being too old and the total lack of efficiency. The food preparing is done in ten pressure cookers. 15 detainees (13 during daytime and 2 at night) work in the kitchen, peeling vegetables, dish washing, etc.
The menu of the day is the following: a) usual: in the morning - tea (no sugar, the detainees said) and margarine; for lunch - potatoe soup and bean ragout with meat; in the evening: meat hotchpotch; b) on diet: (68 prisoners) - in the morning: tea, cheese and margarine; for lunch: meat soup and Moldavian hotchpotch with meat; in the evening: pasta with milk.
For all meals, there have been taken out of the warehouse 87.6 kilos of pork meat, 20 kilos of meat sub - products and 39.7 kilos of bacon. The menu of the day included only meat (of low quality, anyway - only the “carcass”, that is ribs and fat), not sub - products and bacon too. Therefore, they should have either taken out from the warehouse about 145 kilos of meat, or the menu should have also included the sub - products and the bacon. Moreover, there was also a slight difference (1kg and a half of meat) among the various evidences, a quantity that would have served as food for … three bitches taken by the penitentiary as … future mothers of watchdogs!
2.2 The socio - educational department
The penitentiary has 45 subscriptions to various newspapers, to which returns from the local publications are added.7 persons (2 officers, 3 non - coms, one psychologist and an orthodox priest) work within this department. Unlike the previous visit of APADOR - CH (in 2000) the lady psychologist has been included into all the commissions from the penitentiary (distribution, disciplinary, releasing on parole, etc)
The programs for minors are grouped under the title “Little rabbits” and cover the life education, sporting activities, individual and group advising, etc These activities are almost daily taking place and include all minors. Schooling (grades I - VI) is separately carried out, with the help of three teachers. Also separately, there is a program of teaching writing and reading (“Alfaz”) for 7 detainees, out of which 4 minors, but only once a week - on Monday - and for only two hours (1.00 - 3.00 p. m.), which, in the association’s opinion, is insufficient. Finally, the staging of some sketches by Caragiale is being worked upon, minors being also used for casting, and it is also programmed a play - “ The three little pigs” - its subject being the mediation of conflicts.
The adult detainees also participate, in groups of 8 - 12 persons, in various programmes, such as “Stradav” - the diminishing of vulnerability, “Vadd” - the diminishing of aggressiveness in recidivists, “Deris” - the diminishing of the depression mood. For the female detainees there is a combination between “Stradav” and “Deris” and it is had in view the initiating of a program meant for the maintaining of the family bonds. The psychologist, a person who is very active and dedicated to her work, is developing all these activities. The psychologist also does personal advising (about 20 - 25 detainees enlist daily, but she can only talk with a maximum of 18).
It would be desirable to also exist a program for the detainees that are going to be released. At present, their preparing is carried out only in the detention rooms, to which there also adds a collaboration with a non - government organization - “ The City of Hope” - which will only take care of the youths (18 - 21 years old) who are going to be released. The alternative for incarceration service -that functions is mainly concerned with minors (it draws up reports which it will present to the justice courts before judging passing, having in view possible alternatives to incarceration).
The APADOR - CH representatives have found out that the activities of the department are real (not only “on paper”). During the visit, they attended a group therapy session for 14 adult detainees (from rooms 26 and 29), during which those were very active, while another group were waiting to start the school.
The major problem is that of lack of space, as all these activities (except for the sporting ones) are developing only in the detainees’ club. No matter how rigorous the programming by hours would be, it is clear that only a small part of the one thousand detainees can benefit by the cultural - educational activities. Besides the representatives of the “The City of Hope” association, two more other non - government organizations are having regular activities: the Humanitary Service for Penitentiaries (SUP) and Prison Fellowship, the last one being first of all concerned with women. Besides these, representatives of certain religions, mainly Catholics, have also meetings with the detainees.
2.3 Medical room
Two specialists in general medicine and a dentist (the last one being programmed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday), helped by six assistants (one female assistant is exclusively working at the medical room of the staff and another one is in charge of the pharmacy) are responsible for the detainees’ health.
The average of the consulted detainees is of about 40 - 50 daily, which means 5 - 6 minutes for each detainee, but only if the doctor worked continuously, without any break. Moreover, one of the doctors works on Tuesday and Thursday without an assistant, as the latter has to accompany a detainee to a civil hospital for dialysis.
Another difficulty is connected to the lack of specialized staff working in the Forensic laboratory, a fact that leads to repeated postponings of the detainees’ expertise. There was mentioned the recent case of a detainee who had requested the interruption of his serving the sentence on account of health reasons, but the Court of justice could not judge the request as LML did not finalize the expertise. It must be made clear that the detainee who requests the interruption of his serving the sentence on account of such reasons pays for the medical expertise.
The medical room would need a second chair in the dentist’s section (for which the necessary proceedings have been undertaken at DGP) and also a “mini laboratory” for doing tests (estimated price - 3,000 $ USA) a fact that would lead to time saving and, later on, to cost savings for the analyses effected, at present, in the civilian hospitals.
The infirmary is made up of three rooms, out of which one is reserved for the TBC sick detainees (3 of them under active treatment and 19 under supervision). Three is no syphilis case registered. In room 33 - inapt detainees - there were 12 detainees in 12 beds. The detainee Eugen Cosnita, aged 68, serving a sentence of 7 years and a half for murder, suffered from a shortening of his right leg, lumbar discopathy and arthritis. He can walk only accompanied by somebody. Gelu Murgu, aged 31, sentenced for robbery, is suffering from chronic renal insufficiency and he has to go to have dialysis done three times a week at the hospital from Barlad. He is accompanied every time by a medical assistant from the penitentiary, a fact that creates difficulties to the medical room. Ion Chiriac, aged 29, suffers from paraplegia and an echographic examination effected at the Jilava hospital showed that he had an inflammation of the back bone, paresis and problems in urination. Chiriac says that all his illnesses have made their appearance during the 9 months spent in the lockups of the Vaslui police.
The sick detainees get out for their daily exercice for about an hour and a half daily, from Monday till Friday, inclusively.
2.4 The visit sector
The room destined for visits at tables (4 places) was empty. Instead, the usual receiving room (at desks plus a cabin for the “dangerous”) was filled with people. The detainees and the visitors were talking, or rather they were yelling, all at the same time. A poster from the entrance hall warned the “citizens” that, during the visit, they should talk only about
“personal and familial matters” or else their visit would be interrupted. But in all that terrible noise (6 detainees and 12 visitors including the children) it was impossible to hear who was speaking and about what. On the other hand, the non - com on duty declared that a visit would be interrupted only when someone would speak in a vulgar language that would disturb the others. The association representatives see no point in using that poster. And if it is to be kept on, then everybody should be warned to use a “civilized language”. The visits last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Taking into account the new orders of DGP of July 2002 regarding the increasing of the number of monthly visits the detainees are entitled to (between two and four depending on the category), APADOR - CH suggests the giving up of the system of “letters” (the detainees whose surnames begin with A,B,C,D can be visited, for example, on Monday; and those whose surnames begin with E,F,G,H - on Tuesday, etc) The staff are afraid that all the visitors would come at the end of the week, a fact which would give them real problems. A solution would be that the first half of the alphabet should be programmed on Monday till Wednesday, inclusively, and the second half, on Thursday till Sunday, inclusively, and the next month, the reverse, with priority for women and children. Also based on certain orders of DGP, there also increased the number of packets which the detainees may receive. At the Vaslui penitentiary, there is recorded an increase of about 50% of the number of the packets.
2.5 The rooms
The rooms 11 A and B - detainees sentenced for life (transferred temporarily for trials) or held in restrictive and isolating conditions - were empty. Both are very small, with two beds each, a WC and a sink each. The WC and the sink from the isolation room were out of use.
Although the detainees considered as “dangerous” are not isolated from the rest of the detainees, in room 13 there were 14 detainees in 12 beds, all serving more severe sentences. The room being a small one, the beds were placed on three levels. The detainees go out daily to have their walk for an hour and a half. But “daily” means, as in the most of the penitentiaries, four days a week, because on Saturday and Sunday it is considered that the “administrative activities” (dust shaking off beds, bed sheets, etc) replace the walk and, on the day devoted for the weekly bath, there is no going out for the walk. APADOR - CH considers that going out to have the walk should be insured every day, irrespective of the nature of the other activities. Also, it is desirable that, during that hour and a half, the detainees may do something else instead of walking within a small space (football, volleyball, handball playing, fitness, etc). The detainees had a TV set, games of chess and backgammon and even a … guitar! The sanitary installation is composed of a sink and a WC cabin.
The detainee Vasile Corduneanu , aged 58, is sentenced to 12 years for murder, out of which he has served 7 years. He said he suffered from psychopathy, low blood pressure and asthmatic bronchitis. The detainee Marin Simion complained that he had a surgery on one of his testicles in 1998, that it got re - infected and, although the doctor of the penitentiary found out that a month ago he had to be moved to the Jilava hospital, nothing happened yet. He also said that he had the material possibilities to pay for a dental work - that cannot be performed at Vaslui - and that he addressed a demand in this respect to DGP (it seems that such works are done only in the Poarta Alba penitentiary hospital). The impression of the detainee is that the dentist of the Vaslui penitentiary would oppose this transfer as he would feel “hurt” because the detainee addressed directly to DGP. The accounts of the detainees from this room have been contradictory with regard to the hygiene maintaining (some of them said that disinsection was done whenever it was needed, others said that they had mice and cockroaches in the room and that there had been no disinsection done for at least three months) and the club activities (some of them declared that they had been taken to the club several days before the association representatives’ visit, others said that they had never been taken there). No matter what the contradictory opinions were, APPADOR - CH found it clear that in room 13 the detention conditions were more difficult than the rest of the penitentiary. On account of the fact that here the detainees serving severe sentences, who are considered dangerous, are to be found, the association requests from the penitentiary administration to pay more attention to them, especially in the educational and medical - sanitary respects.
In room 28 (pretrial recidivists) there were 38 detainees in 27 beds. Some of them were sleeping two in one bed, three or four of them in two neighboring beds. The detainees complained about the food (in the morning, tea with no sugar, and the cooked courses contained almost never any meat, but only bacon) about the fact that they were not allowed to receive - and wear - sporting suits, that they had not been taken to the club for about two months. Their only “entertainment” is their daily walk for about one hour, the chess and rummy games and the TV programme (the penitentiary also has a TV station on an internal circuit). The sanitary installation is made up of two WC cabins and one lavatory endowed with 5 taps. Ionel Chersacaru and Cornel Jiglau (the latter being hospitalized, until 1994, in the Grajduri psychiatric hospital), both being recidivists, have been on pretrial detention for - as they say - stealing of an audio cassette and house breaking. On Chersacaru’s penitentiary file the police noted “intention of escaping and self - mutilation”. In the file, there was a card, drawn up by a policeman, in which it was mentioned “self - mutilation” (a fact easy to notice by the scars on his body) and also “escaping” (not “attempt” ) without any other explanation. On Jiglau’s file, also, there appears the mentioning “intention of self - mutilation” As these annotations on the files, even written in pencil, sometimes not signed and, most of the times, not justified by any documents, have effects over their classifying done in the penitentiaries, APADOR - CH request more reserve on the part of the staff as regards this kind of characterization. The staff from the penitentiaries fear that, if they ignored such annotations, even if the file contained no evidence, and if one incident happened, they, the staff, would be held responsible. As a principle, the discipline commission of the penitentiary analyses, on a monthly basis, the situation of each detainee “having problems”. In practice, the association representatives have met few cases when the “stamp” on the cover of the file would have been erased. Moreover, if a recidivist had, during a previous sentence serving, an escaping attempt (for which he was condemned and he served his sentence) he will remain for the rest of his life within the “dangerous” category even if he behaves very well later on. APADOR - CH considers that the detainees have to be classified only depending on their behaviour during serving the sentence in course of developing. The association representatives think that the detention treatment should not be influenced by the annotations on the penitentiary files (irrespective of their being from the police or any other penitentiary) Besides, the detainees complained about their having mice, cockroaches and lice in their rooms.
Rooms 19 and 20 were meant for the minors. In the first one - the pretrial detainees - there were 19 minors in 12 beds. They go to the club on every Friday, where they talk with their psychologist . For the rest of the time they watch TV or play chess and rummy. They go out for their walk for about one hour a day, and on Saturday they play soccer or tennis. In the second (room 20) there were 15 minors in 12 beds. They are sentenced, either by the first instance court, or by irrevocable decision, four of them being later on transferred to the Tichilesti education center for minors. Almost all minors had - or they have - counsels ex officio, in a lot of cases the counsel for the defense limiting himself to “pleadings” of the type “he is young and he did not realize what he was doing”. For example, the case of Lucian Simion (aged 16) sentenced for stealing done in the year 2000 (when he was not yet 15) to serve one year and 9 months in prison. The sanitary installation consisted of a sink in the room and a WC cabin, in which there also was the garbage basket that was emptied only once a day and only in the morning.
The minors, including those in pretrial detention, are obliged to wear, in all situations, penitentiary uniforms.
The only bathroom meant to be used by the whole penitentiary (men) had 30 showers. The walls were full of dampness and the smell was unbearable.
The penitentiary has four walk courtyards, one of which being endowed with a tennis table. As on the visit day there had rained, one of the courtyards could not be used because of the mud.
The women section has 2 rooms: room 2 (5 detainees who work at the staff mess in 6 beds) and room 1 (19 detainees in 18 beds). The first room was spacious and very clean, while in the second one, there was, practically, no free space. Still, the detainees from that room said that, three months ago, there had been even 35 detainees in the room. The lack of proportion between the two rooms as regards the detainee number and the bed number and a minimum of moving space is quite evident. As the situation holds generally valid in the penitentiaries having women sections, the association suggests the following versions: 1. The employing of the women detainees at the staff mess should be abandoned; 2. The employing in different shifts, at the staff mess, of as many as possible detainees (if possible, all of them). In both versions, there could be eliminated the substantial difference concerning the detention conditions. The second version would imply the effecting of certain periodical medical consultations for all the female detainees.
The rooms have identical sanitary installations: a WC, a shower, a lavatory with three taps. They have running hot water for their shower on every Friday, but barrels containing hot water are brought for them every day.
In room 2, there is only one radio set, but one of the detainees had already received approval for a TV set brought from home. The women detainees complained about feeling cold (on the visit day, even if, outside, there was not a low temperature, it was very cold inside the rooms) saying that last winter the heating was on quite rarely, about the lack of medicines (they received only analgin and paracetamol) and about the fact that they would like to work but they did not have the possibility to do that. Another complaint refers to the obligation existing in most penitentiaries - to wear the compulsory uniform, especially when their families visit them.
The detainees said that they had last been to the prisoners’ club on Saint Mary’s day (8-th of September), therefore one month and a half ago. Generally, they go to the club on the opportunity of certain religious holidays. They “compensated” somehow for the lack of cultural - educational activities by a “on the spot” course of learning writing and reading, at the initiative of one of the detainees. Unfortunately, it is forbidden, in this penitentiary too, for the detainees to sew, embroider and knit in their rooms. This is owing to the fact that even the commonplace sewing needle could be a “sharp” object and, therefore, a “dangerous” one. The association representatives did not hear that, in other penitentiaries where such activities are allowed, violent incidents based on using crotchets and knitting needles might have taken place !
The women go out for their walk for a duration of one hour and a half to two hours a day, from Monday till Friday, inclusively.
Maria Trifan has to serve a sentence of one year and five months. She is retired on a medical pension and she has to go to the medical expert commission every year, in July. After being arrested, she received her pension only for the month of June, after which the pension was suspended because of her not being able to go to the commission. The association shows that the Pension law was modified in 2000. As (from 2001 on) the people retired for age limit, sentenced to detention, receive their pensions during their detention too, APADOR - CH requests from DGP to also study the situation of the people retired on a medical pension and, if the only condition is the yearly going to the medical expert commissions, the needed measures should be taken.
Conclusions:
- The overcrowding - the characteristic of the penitentiary system - continues to be an extremely serious problem. Until the absolutely necessary modification of the Penal law, APADOR - CH requests from DGP to increase its efforts in obtaining certain spaces from MApN as they became available by the emptying of certain garrisons. This way, there might be at least reached the minimum standard of one bed for each detainee;
- The association requests from DGP to analyze with utmost attention the incident of February 2002 from the Vaslui penitentiary, as a consequence of which a detainee - who was pretrial detained - was killed by another detainee several minutes after he was brought into the respective room. Irrespective of the detainees’ mentality, the leading board and the staff from each penitentiary have the duty to protect the life and the physical and psychical integrity of all the persons held in detention, no matter what the nature of the perpetrated offense might be;
- APADOR - CH once again requests from DGP to cancel the obligation of the detainees to wear the compulsory penitentiary uniform. The measure should first of all aim at the minors and the women, as well as the pretrial detainees, that is, obviously, to the extent in which these have decent civilian clothes’
- The detainees (say a few exceptions) did not complain about the food quality. The association representatives have nevertheless found out that the menu (meat courses) did not correspond to the contents of the pressure cookers (very little, bad quality meat, more bacon and sub - products);
- APADOR - CH deems as valuable the efforts of the cultural - educational department, with special mentioning of the lady psychologist’s activity. The association requests from the DGP to pay more attention to this department, in all penitentiaries, so that an as greater as possible number of detainees could be entrained in activities which are essential for their re - education. The association knows well the lack of space from all penitentiaries. A solution could be the erecting of tents meant for the activities of the department, at least in fine weather, over the perimeter of each penitentiary (the erecting of tents, only for accommodation actually, has been put into practice 2 - 3 years ago in certain penitentiaries);
- APADOR - CH requests again from DGP that the doctors from penitentiaries should take care only of the detainees. It is not natural that a doctor would take care of hundreds of detainees, staff and their families and, in certain cases, judges and prosecutors. It is clear that, under these circumstances, the quality of the medical assistance for the detainees, who wholly depend on its performing in the penitentiary, is affected;
- The association requests from DGP to take measures for the employing of 27 more active staff members until the completing of the staff list of 138 persons, for solving the problem of the second dental surgery chair and for finding solutions for the acquiring of a “ mini laboratory” for doing analyses.
Manuela
Stefanescu
Valerian Stan