REPORT on the visit to the Braila penitentiary
On 6 April 2000, the APADOR-CH representatives visited the Braila penitentiary.
The penitentiary was built in 1832 and has a capacity of 668 places (at 6 cubic metres per detainee). On the day of this visit, the penitentiary accommodated 1027 detainees, as follows: one minor, 111 youth, 30 women; 117 were detained on remand (75 had been sentenced by a first instance court), and 7 were petty offenders. 995 persons were detained for deeds for which the criminal law provides sentences of up to 10 years and 25 had sentences over 10 years. At the time of this visit, 249 detainees went to work. The detainees' income is subject to global taxes, after which 90% remain at the penitentiary's disposal and 10% are paid to the detainees, on the basis of individual payrolls. The detainees that go to work are selected weekly, and the commission established for this purpose bases its decisions on three main criteria: state of health, legal status (first time offenders versus multi-offenders) and the detainees' profession. On the day of this visit, 70 of the detainees refused to go to work. The penitentiary punishes the refusal to work with suspension of the right to parcels, only in the case of detainees whose final sentences have been pronounced, after the doctors establish that they are fit to work and only if the penitentiary cannot cover the labour demands of the moment. The APADOR-CH representatives noted that these criteria are employed with flexibility by the penitentiary management, that presented the case of Radu Mocanu, who had attempted to escape in 1977 and was going to work. The staff is made of 217 employees, both military and civilian; 152 work directly with the detainees. The penitentiary has its own animal farm and vegetable garden (the latter has 72 hectares of arable land, the animal farm breeds cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry).
The cultural-educational department has 8 employees: 3 officers, 1 non-commissioned officer, 3 civilians (2 of them psychologists) and an orthodox priest. The penitentiary co-operates well with the foundation "Rock of Ages", carrying out 8 weekly joint educational programs. The foundation procures part of the bibliographic material for the cultural-educational activities carried out in penitentiary and makes small donations to the detainees on the occasion of holidays. The penitentiary also co-operates with some orthodox churches in the county, whose priests succeed in helping some of the more needy families of the detainees. Last Easter, the orthodox priests offered the detainees about 360 gifts (mainly food).
The penitentiary carries out a joint project with the "Gheorghe Moisil" high school, consisting of regular school classes and computer literacy (8 detainees have graduated this course).
Medical assistance is ensured by 4 doctors (two general practitioners, one specialised in internal medicine and a dentist), one dental technician and four medical assistants. The doctors work daily, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; a medical assistant works in the penitentiary round the clock. According to the penitentiary director, the military staff resort to these doctors only in cases of emergency.
For the current year the penitentiary asked for a grant amounting to lei 1.5 billion in order to build a laundry and a warehouse for equipment. The APADOR-CH representatives appreciates the fact that the Braila penitentiary allows the detainees to wear their own clothes (those who cannot use this opportunity are provided with penitentiary uniforms). The detainees are allowed to receive underwear and bed sheets weekly.
The punishments for violations of internal regulations follow the incident report pattern. APADOR-CH was told that all detainees are heard by the discipline commission, regardless of how serious their deeds are. Usually, the detainees’ impolite behaviour towards the staff is not punished; anyway, no legal procedures are taken against detainees for such misdemeanours. Still, they are sometimes punished with suspension of one of their rights, sometimes even with isolation.
The detainees’ right to correspondence is unrestricted and uncensored. They can use the two pay phones with the cards that they hold, on the basis of a written application to the deputy director. Although all these applications are approved – or because of that – the APADOR-CH representatives think that the written application should be given up and that the right to make phone calls should be regarded as a natural right of detainees, limited only by the technical capability of each penitentiary and, obviously, by the detainees’ possibility to buy phone cards. In order to ensure the equal access of all detainees to the phone, it would suffice to keep records of who made phone calls and how many times.
The APADOR-CH representatives asked for details about the incidents occurred in the penitentiary during the might of 28/29 December 1999. According to the penitentiary management, the detainees were entitled to a supplementary visit and parcel for the holidays. The visiting area was very crowded, which allowed one of the detainees to introduce two bottles of alcohol of 1.5 litres each (which he diluted to obtain 6 litres of liquor). Some of the detainees drank the alcohol and two of them started a fight, one of them being slightly wounded. Later on, part of the detainees started shouting and destroyed the objects in a room. Some detainees used a bed as a battering ram, hitting it against the door and walls. The door could have broken and the 54 detainees could have escaped the cell. Also, one of the detainees maimed himself; he cut his abdomen. The officer in charge of the penitentiary, the officer on duty and the guard tried to talk sense into the detainees, to determine them to cool down. They did not succeed, so they had to call the penitentiary director, who failed, in his turn, to calm them down. The detainees continued to bang the beds against the door and walls, they spat at the staff and soiled them with the blood of the one that had cut himself. The director tried to get support from the gendarmes and police forces in town, but their officials said they were not competent to step in in such cases. Therefore, the director decided to use his own intervention team and asked again the detainees to put an end to their protest, which only determined them to increase their protests: they set fire to the bed sheets and tried to make other detainees join them ( they partly succeeded, with Rooms 3 and 5, but the number of the detainees who joined their protests was insignificant). The intervention team failed to take the protest leaders out of the room, as the detainees gathered together and opposed them. Following DGP’s approval, the staff used water hoses to put off the fire in Room 6 and in the few that had followed this example. As the protests continued in Room 6, they used four cartridges of tear gas and the detainees calmed down. As the room had become uninhabitable, all the 54 detainees were distributed in other rooms. The director said that some of the detainees might have been hit by the staff while they were being transferred to other rooms. When the detainees' protest stopped, they were tested for alcohol: some got a vial test, while the protest leaders - Nicolae Anghelache, Milica Doda and Costica Iorga - were drawn blood to be tested in the lab. The three tested with 1.3, 1.7 and 1.9 per thousand, respectively. The Prosecutor's Office was notified with regard to the incident and in order to recover the prejudice (assessed at about lei 190,000); charges of outrage and destruction were pressed against the detainees. The three leaders were punished with restrictive regime for 6 to 9 months and transferred to the Galati penitentiary. The other 51 detainees were not punished; they were moved back to Room 6 and were not treated any worse. During their visit to the sections, the APADOR-CH representatives learned, however, that three of them had got disciplinary punishments. The detainees' main requests were for more visits, paid by a wider range of persons (not just relatives) and to be allowed to work (Room 6, multi-offenders with sentences of up to 10 years, were allowed to work).
Lunch consisted of vegetable soup with meat and beans with bacon for the regular menu and vegetable soup and pasta with sauce and meat for the diet menu (199 helpings). The food looked good, but the meat from the diet menu was in fact bacon. Breakfast had consisted of vegetable stew with meat for the regular menu and potatoes with meat for the diet menu; for dinner, the detainees were going to get tea and biscuits. 56.9 kg. meat, 28.9 kg. meat by-products and 51.2 kg. lard had been used on that day. There is no form of detainee control over the administration of foodstuffs. The APADOR-CH representatives recommended to the penitentiary management the practice employed in this sense in some penitentiaries previously visited by the association.
In Room 26 there were 19 detainees and 15 beds. They are taken out for walks every 2-3 days, for about 30-40 minutes, "when the yard is deserted and the ladies can go for walks (according to a guard). They have access to newspapers and books (the women can also go to the library). The two rooms for women use alternately one television set. Their correspondence is unrestricted and uncensored; the women can use the pay phones once a month, supervised by a guard, who can hear the whole conversation. APADOR-CH reiterates that this is a violation of the secrecy of correspondence, which should be given up as fast as possible. Article 28 of the Romanian Constitution provides that "Secrecy of the letters, telegrams and other postal communications, of telephone conversations and of any other legal means of communication is inviolable". Listening to the detainees’ phone conversation is not just against the law, but also devoid of meaning, as long as the secrecy of written correspondence is already observed in the penitentiary system.
The lavatory consisted of a seatless toilet and a shower; hot water runs permanently. The psychologists talk quite often with the detainees.
The doctor examines about 50-60 detainees daily (in the summer time, when the detainees go to work, even up to 100). Lung and digestive illnesses are the most frequent. The doctor treats 8 TB patients and 6 with syphilis. The penitentiary has almost 80 detainees with psychic problems, who do not pose special problems, according to the doctor. In the first trimester of this year have been recorded 8 cases of self-maiming (the monthly average is 3-5 cases). When the detainees brought to the penitentiary exhibit marks of physical violence, they are examined (the findings are written down in a special report) and treated. The detainees who have to be admitted to hospital are not received in the penitentiary unless the police solves their medical problems.
When committed to hospital outside the penitentiary system, the detainees are usually handcuffed to their beds. The decision is made jointly by the officers in charge of the guards department and by the doctor. The APADOR-CH representatives reiterated that this measure should be the exception, not the rule, and that it should be taken only when there are serious indications that the detainee intends to escape. The detainees who need to be committed to hospital are usually very sick and unable of the physical effort supposed by an attempt to escape, even from a "civilian" hospital. Handcuffing sick detainees who are, moreover, watched by armed guards is obviously an excessive measure.
The supply of medicines and medical materials is satisfactory; however, there is a certain lack of co-ordination in terms of payments (at the time of this visit, the penitentiary had a lei 30 million debt).
In the sick room – Room 9 – there were 5 patients and 4 beds. The lavatory consisted of a seatless toilet (that was flushing continuously), a (broken) shower and a sink. The detainees were taken out for walks every second day.
The penitentiary had two shower rooms with about 50 showers that each detainee can use once a week.
In Room 40 there were 5 beds and 4 detainees – a minor, 2 young men and an adult "chief" ("room representative"). When the visitors entered the room, the chief shouted "Attention!" and his colleagues stood straight. APADOR-CH asks that all penitentiaries give up these obsolete military rules, which are useless and uncomfortable at the same time. The detainees go to the club twice a week, when they play table tennis; they are taken out for walks once every second day, when they can play football. They can borrow books from the library and receive newspapers daily. The lavatory consisted of a seatless toilet and a sink. The minor and the young men take part in literacy courses (1st to 4th grade).
Room 43 accommodated the persons detained on remand whose legal situation is not yet established and who are not allowed to work. The room is provided with a television and a radio set and receives newspapers. The lavatory consists of a seatless toilet, a shower, and two sinks with four taps, only one of which actually works. These detainees are allowed to go out for walks once every two days, when they can also play football. They take showers once a week, when they also get fresh bed sheets. The lawyers appointed ex officio never go to the penitentiary, but those hired by the detainees do and have confidential talks with their clients.
At the end of the corridor there is a phone booth with the two pay phones that can be used by the detainees. A detainee who was making a phone call said the guards sometimes go in the booth with them and listen to their conversations, sometimes not.
Room 6, where the 28 December incidents occurred: the detainees were given the signal "Attention!" when the visitors entered the room. Ion Costin, Lucian Dumitru and Nicolae Oprisan complained that it was very hard for them to get access to the medical office after the December 1999 incidents: the first two had repeatedly asked to be examined by the doctor for over two weeks (Ion Costin was obviously ill); the third, for two months. The detainees that had witnessed the December 1999 events said that their main problems were related to the precarious medical assistance, to the living conditions in the room, to the overcrowding (there used to be 54 detainees in the room; now, there were 40 and only 39 beds). Other two reasons for discontentment were that they were to receive visits in the penitentiary uniform (which bothered them, especially when their children were visiting) and that they had been forbidden to receive coffee from home. With regard to the first aspect, the penitentiary commander explained that the visiting area was permanently overcrowded and the detainees dresses in civilian clothes could have blended in with the visitors and tried to escape. With regard to the second, he invoked a DGP order issued on 1 December 1999 that detainees were no longer to use heating devices because of the high costs of electric power. Finally, the detainees are unhappy that they can be visited only by close relatives rather than the visitors of their choice. The detainees said that the food quality had improved after December 1999.
The lavatory consists of two seatless toilets and two concrete basins – a big one with 6 taps and a small one, for the feet, with one tap. There was no television set in the room; the detainees use it alternately with another room. They are not allowed to go to the club; they go out for walks every second day, for half an hour. The representatives of "Rock of Ages" visit the penitentiary twice a week for biblical study sessions. The detainees said that, on the days when they are scheduled to phone home, their relatives are sometimes out in town and asked to be rescheduled. Nicolae Constantin complained that he was very ill and was not treated properly. At the end of this visit, the doctor told the APADOR-CH representatives that Nicolae Constantin’s state of health did not require special attention, although his medical file proved that he was suffering (or had suffered) from several diseases: chronic hepatitis, otitis, urinary infection, lumbar sciatica, missing teeth, psychopathy. Another detainee, Cornel Coman, had swallowed a wire while he was detained at the Mandresti penitentiary, in December 1999. He had not passed it and he was feeling bad. He had been X-rayed three weeks before, but no one had taken care of him ever since.
The 4 detainees under restrictive regime were accommodated in a room with 6 beds. The lavatory consists of a seatless toilet that flushed continuously, and a sink. Nicolae Marian, one of the detainees who had witnessed the events in Room 6, had to spend 9 months under restrictive regime, without being informed of the reason for which this measure was taken against him. He said he had served 20 days under severe isolation before being placed under restriction. The penitentiary management said that this measure had been taken following a DGP order (S 33350 of 14 January 1997, issued by one of the deputies of the General Director, subsequently retired) which provides that the first 20 days of the restrictive regime must be spent in isolation. APADOR-CH considers this measure unjustified and asks the DGP officials to amend it, as restrictive regime and isolation are two separate punishments.
During the events that occurred in December 1999, Fanel Ciocoban was accommodated in Room 3, where the detainees broke a peephole. Although he was not involved, allegedly, in the events, he was announced on 14 January 2000 that he had been placed under restrictive regime for 9 months. He was very upset, especially as the measure had been taken without any verification, without being confronted with any of the other inmates and without being even asked to give a statement about the events. Moreover, according to Fanel Ciocoban, the detainee that had started the scandal had admitted to breaking the peephole. Ciocorban was told that his guilt was proved by an audio cassette on which his discussion with one of his visitors had been recorded. On Fanel Ciocorban’s punishment report, the date on which he had "committed the misdemeanour" had been modified from 28.12.1999 to 14.01.2000. Costica Iorga, who had been detained in Room 6 at the time of the event, was also punished with restrictive regime because he had tested positive for alcohol. Dumitru Dracosu has been punished with one year of restrictive regime because he had burned the corner of a mattress in April 1999. He told the APADOR-CH representatives that he had been kept for several days chained to a bed without mattress.
In isolation there were 5 detainees and 3 beds. The lavatory consisted of a seatless toilet that flushed continuously and a sink. Ionel Surdu had been there since 18 February, as he served several 10-day punishments with isolation. On the day of this visit, his punishment was going to change to 6 months of restrictive regime. Ionel Surdu’s problems had started on 18 February when, at the end of a visit, he admitted he had asked in a louder voice to be allowed to spend 5 more minutes with his visitors. He was punished twice with isolation for this attitude. He was dissatisfied with the punishment and had asked to talk to a higher ranking officer. Not only was his request denied, but he was also handcuffed and beaten by the non-commissioned officers. When he was punished with isolation the third time, he asked again to talk to the penitentiary management, but instead he was beaten again, "stamped on" by the penitentiary intervention team. Ionel Surdu was in a desperate state. He was convinced that the penitentiary management was aware of the excessive measures taken against him, as the deeds he had been charged with had never been checked and he had never been allowed to talk to the penitentiary management, although he had insistently asked to. The APADOR-CH representatives remarked that neither Ionel Surdu, nor Nicolae Marian, Fanel Ciocoban or Costica Iorga had been heard or asked to give statements by the disciplinary commission or the officer in charge of discipline. Some penitentiary officials explained that these procedural problems are due to the fact that when these decisions were made (28 December 1999, 14 January, 18 February 2000) the Order of the Minister of Justice no. 2963 of 15 December 2000 had not come into force. This explanation is unacceptable. APADOR-CH considers that part of the responsibility for this situation falls with the disciplinary commission and its president, Colonel Stegarescu (transferred from Galati, where he was the penitentiary commander, to Braila two months before).
Room 29, dangerous detainees. 15 detainees were accommodated in a room with 18 beds. The lavatory consisted of a seatless toilet that flushed continuously and 2 sinks. The room was provided with a television and a radio set. The detainees are taken out for walks every second day for half an hour. When they left the room, the APADOR-CH representatives noted that 6 non-commissioned officers had been brought to the cell door to watch the room, which they regarded as an excessive measure.
Out of the 4 files they examined, the APADOR-CH representatives noted that two contained the necessary specifications related to the reason of their presence in the penitentiary and their refusal to do community work respectively (Marian Banica and Ion Ion). In the other two, the Braila Court had mentioned no reasons (Ionel Enciu and Viorel Geana).
- APADOR-CH urges the DGP officials to clarify the situation of detainees Ionel Surdu, Nicolae Marian, Fanel Ciocoban and Costica Iorga. There are some indications that they night have been punished although they were innocent, or that the measures taken against them were excessive or amounted to inhuman treatments (they were beaten, chained to beds without mattresses, etc.). Anyhow, it appears that their punishments violated the regulations currently in force. Given the serious consequences of disciplinary punishments over the detainees’ situation, APADOR-CH considers that the detainees must be heard and asked to give statements during the investigations, regardless of how serious the deeds they are charged with are.
- APADOR-CH considers that DGP should review its decision of 1 December 1999 and allow the detainees to receive and prepare coffee in their rooms. It is obvious that this facility is desired by the detainees and would be liable to ameliorate some of their justified complaints related to he conditions of detention, which are more than poor. APADOR-CH agrees that the expenses on electric power incurred while making coffee must be paid by the detainees and ask DGP to find a way to calculate and allow the detainees to pay these sums. Also, APADOR-CH considers that the detainees are right when they ask to be allowed to wear their own clothes when they are paid visits and ask DGP to issue unitary orders for all penitentiaries in this sense. The association reiterates that the detainees should be allowed to decide for themselves who can visit them (not just close relatives, but whoever they want).
- The association considers that handcuffing the detainees committed to hospital should be the exception rather than the rule. This measure should be taken exclusively when there are serious indications that the detainees intend and have the physical ability to escape or to commit deeds punished by the criminal law.
- A solution must be found to expand the walking yards, as most detainees are currently taken out for walks every second day for half an hour.
Manuela
Stefanescu
Valerian Stan