REPORT on the visit to the Galati penitentiary
On 7 April 2000, the APADOR-CH representatives visited the Galati penitentiary.
Since the beginning of February 2000, the penitentiary has a new commander. The old commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Stegarescu, was transferred to Braila as deputy commander in charge of guards and penitentiary treatment.
The Galati penitentiary is supposed to receive only detainees with sentences of up to 10 years. At the time of this visit, the detainee population amounted to 1383, as follows: 781 whose final sentences had been pronounced, 339 sentenced by a first instance court, 235 detained on remand and 28 petty offenders. 517 had relapsed, an additional 286 had a criminal record, and 553 did not have a prior criminal record. Four of the petty offenders had got fines converted into terms in prison. Out of the 1383 detainees, 1337 were men, 46, women, and 9, minors. The penitentiary is overcrowded because only the first building has been completed, so that the penitentiary currently has only 700 beds. According to the penitentiary commander, the amount needed to finish the buildings this year is lei 6 billion. DGP has approved only lei 3 billion, out of which one billion from the penitentiary’s own income. Most detainees work in agriculture, the most important partner in this sense being the Galati state-owned agricultural enterprise. The situation has become rather unclear since the law on the privatisation of former state-owned agricultural enterprises has been passed.
The Galati penitentiary has its own animal farm and vegetable garden, with 45 hectares of land. The animal farm includes 600 pigs, 30 cattle, 200 sheep and 7 horses. A purchase of poultry is expected. The penitentiary’s meat demands are satisfied completely from internal sources. 68 detainees work at the agricultural farm.
Other 13 detainees work in the penitentiary, 72 provide services, and 208 work outside the penitentiary. Only some of them are paid and benefit from deductions from the sentences (the 4 women who work in the kitchen); other benefit only from deductions (masons, hairdressers).
Medical assistance is provided by two general practitioners, a dentist (on maternity leave) and four medical assistants. The management has succeeded in concluding an agreement with a dentist who ensures emergency services two days a week.
The cultural-educational department is staffed by two officers (one of them a graduate social assistant) a civilian (a Romanian language teacher) and an orthodox priest. The APADOR-CH representatives stressed that the penitentiary should also employ a qualified psychologist. At the time of this visit, 17 of the inmates were illiterate. The penitentiary provides tuition for 1st to 8th grades. Educational and religious activities are organised several times a week by representatives of the Adventist and Baptist denominations (the foundation "Rock of Ages") and by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The detainees have never been taken to a show in town. However, several shows have been organised in the penitentiary with the participation of students from several schools in Galati. The absence of a club for detainees restricts the range of their activities.
According to the penitentiary commander, the correspondence is uncensored and unlimited, even when the intelligence structure within the Ministry of Justice (SIPA) notifies the penitentiary about potential attempts to escape. The penitentiary has a pay phone that the detainees can use after applying to the commander. It is remarkable that the detainees who have their own pay phone cards can make even 2-3 phone calls a month. The detainees receive newspapers daily; the penitentiary subscribes to several dailies, such as Evenimentul Zilei, Adevarul, Ziua, ProSport, etc.
2.Visit to the penitentiary
2.1. The kitchen area
On their visit to the kitchen, the APADOR-CH representatives discovered a very serious problem, namely that some foodstuffs (especially meat) are stolen from the detainees’ food ration. The APADOR-CH representatives discovered in the warehouse several bowls containing about 7-8 kg. of raw pork. The non-commissioned officer on duty was unable to provide an explanation for this quantity of meat that should have been used for the detainees’ meal. When the association’s representatives insisted on finding a reason, the non-commissioned officer, the accountant and the person in charge of the warehouse (summoned by the deputy commander in charge of logistics) tried to explain that the meat was going to be cooked for the 5 detainees with diabetes, who were allegedly going to get 400 gr. meat for each meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner, that is, 1.2 kg. meat a day). The meat was raw because it was going to be cooked just one hour before each meal, as a token of the special attention granted to the diabetics, explained the non-commissioned officer on duty.
The APADOR-CH representatives learned from their discussion with the doctor that this explanation was false. The doctor declared that he had indeed recommended meat for the diabetics, but preferably beef, only for lunch and only 200 gr. a day. The penitentiary management was notified of this situation and promised to conduct immediately an investigation and to take drastic measures against the culprits.
On the day of this visit, the kitchen had prepared 1400 regular helpings and 56 diet helpings. Breakfast had consisted of cabbage and meat by-products (regular menu) and rice with milk (diet menu). Lunch was going to consist of bean soup and meat with potatoes (regular menu), or peasant soup and meat with potatoes (diet menu). Dinner was going to consist of tea with biscuits and cheese. The ingredients used that day were as follows: 28.5 kg. pork (minus the 7-8 kg. that had been stolen), 64 kg. pork by-products and 63 kg. beef by-products. The APADOR-CH representatives noted that, same as in other penitentiaries, meat actually means mostly lard and bacon.
The kitchen had an airing problem; actually, it looked like a steam bath. The deputy commander in charge of logistics said that the penitentiary was going to solve this problem very soon ("until Easter"), by elevating the ventilation system and burying the steam pipes.
2.2. The medical office
70-120 detainees are examined daily. The doctors work from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (in shifts), two hours a day being allotted to the staff (although this practice should have come to an end following a DGP order issued in June 1999). After 8 p.m., medical assistance is ensured by a medical assistant. The most frequent are skin and lung diseases. The most serious cases are treated at the military hospital and at the Galati County Hospital (for diseases that the military hospital does not specialise in). The 15 detainees with TB are in a stabilised stage, following the treatment undergone at the Jilava penitentiary hospital. 9 detainees have syphilis; they have been separated from the rest until they turn negative. Their treatment consisted mostly of Moldamin. Although the HIV testing programme has not been enforced at the Galati penitentiary, the doctors have asked for HIV tests in some cases. All results have been negative.
2.3. The sick room
Room 102
The only rooms in the penitentiary that were not overcrowded were the sick rooms. Thus, in Room 102 (12 beds) there were 7 detainees.
Nelus Plescan, a detainee with diabetes, explained what the diet menu consisted of: lard for breakfast, an egg at 10 a.m., a small piece of meat (the size of half a palm) at 4 p.m., and pork scraps for dinner. Seldom did he get margarine or the potatoes recommended by the doctor. The detainees are taken out for walks for half an hour every day.
Room 112
In this room there were 11 beds and 10 patients. The room was damp, despite the fact that it was located in the new wing of the penitentiary. The deputy commander was asked what was the reason for this situation and replied that it was the overuse of the lavatories. The room was provided with a television set (that they can watch from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.). The detainees got newspapers every day. The APADOR-CH representatives discussed with Mircea Dan Anghel, a detainee who said he had undergone surgery at the Jilava penitentiary hospital on 9 February 2000 (he did not know what for). He had been brought back to the Galati penitentiary, but his state of health had deteriorated. He was taken to the Galati military hospital, where the doctors said, according to the detainee, that whoever had operated on him should solve the problem. He had not been transferred back to the Jilava hospital, although he was not feeling well. The association notified the penitentiary management of this situation and urged them to solve it as soon as possible.
2.4. The rooms
Room 103 (juveniles)
The 9 juveniles in the penitentiary are accommodated in this room; 7 of them are illiterate. Education is a very serious issue, as the minors that have not been pronounced a final sentence are not included in the school program. The air was stale because of the dampness. These detainees are allowed to go for walks for one hour every day. As the television set in the room had broken a month before, their only wish was to get another. The minors also wish to be included in the school program and to be allowed to spend more time in the open.
Room 9
The room was overcrowded (26 detainees shared 12 beds). The detainees would go out for walks every second day, for half an hour. The room was provided with a television set and the detainees got newspapers every day. The detainees are taken out for walks once every two days, for half an hour. The room was provided with a TV set and the detainees received newspapers every day. The lavatory was in a very poor state: the plumbing was leaking and the toilet was broken and flushing continuously. The detainees had repeatedly asked that this situation be remedied, but to no avail. The detainee Vasile Borza wanted to talk to the APADOR-CH representatives. He complained about food quality (the soup looks "as if it was water from the gutter") and about the beatings some detainees had taken from the guards, who "try to find reasons to draw us up punishment reports". Asked to name some of the detainees who had been beaten, Borza said that they were no longer in the penitentiary (they had been either released or transferred).
Room 10
The room was also overcrowded (24 detainees and only 12 beds). According to the detainees, there had been even 28 or 31 inmates in the room. The lavatory was acceptable and consisted of a toilet, a sink and a shower. They got hot water twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. According to the detainees, the room was fumigated every 3 or 4 weeks. The association considers that the chess championship organised among the detainees was a positive initiative.
Room 15 (restrictive regime)
The room had 3 beds and accommodated 3 detainees. Pardalian Calin had been sentenced to one year of restrictive regime for having confined illegally two guards on 1 August 1999, helped by Valeriu Curin. The detainee’s hands and feet were cuffed. The guards would take his cuffs off only when he took showers. Milica Doda was serving 9 months in restrictive regime as a result of the December 1999 upraise at the Braila penitentiary. Doda, former chief of Room 6 at the Braila penitentiary, said he had not known about the investigation conducted in his case in order to be placed under restrictive regime. He had been transferred to Galati on 14 January 2000. Doda admitted he had drunk alcohol on the evening of the upraise, but denied having tried to break down the door; allegedly, the detainees only tried to raise the management’s awareness on their situation. The third detainee, Puiu Panait, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The room had a toilet and a sink; the detainees were allowed to take two showers a week, with a hose that the guards fitted in the room.
Room 16 (restrictive regime)
Although they hesitated, the guards eventually allowed the APADOR-CH representatives to enter this room which accommodates "the most dangerous detainees from Galati", Valeriu Curin, sentenced to life imprisonment. After the August 1999 events, Curin had been kept tied to the bed, face up, for 6 months. The new penitentiary commander cancelled this measure. At the time of his visit, both his hands and feet were cuffed. The other detainee, Laurentiu Cercel, had been punished with 9 months of restrictive regime for his participation in the December 1999 events from the Braila penitentiary. Cercel said he had been transferred to the Galati penitentiary and placed in restrictive regime without being guilty and without being asked to give a statement. He serves an 8-year sentence and asked several times to be transferred in the same room with Valeriu Curin.
The detainees in the two cells mentioned above are taken out for walks twice a week, for half an hour.
Room 1 (isolation and restrictive regime)
6 detainees were accommodated in a room with 12 beds. The lavatory was damp; it consisted of a sink, a shower and a toilet. The detainees took showers twice a week and were taken out for walks once or twice a week, for about 20-30 minutes. The detainee Nicolae Anghelache (nicknamed Mamulos), a participant in the upraise from the Braila penitentiary (the one who maimed himself by stabbing himself in the abdomen) said he had been confined in isolation, tied face up to the bed, despite his wounds. His wounds were dressed only 10 days later. The detainee also complained about the poor quality of medical assistance at the Galati penitentiary (he has a heart condition). He told the APADOR-CH representatives that the guards tried to intimidate and scare the detainees during the night (they open the peephole and make owl sounds or hit the iron bars with wooden mallets). According to Anghelache, detention conditions had improved since the new commander had been appointed. The detainee Stefan Mocanu (who escaped in 1999, caught and imprisoned in Galati in September 1999) said he had been badly beaten by the intervention squad and that he had been admitted to hospital with serious wounds, which required surgery at his left leg. The penitentiary commander was informed on the situation of this detainee and asked to conduct investigations in this case.
Room 3 (women)
This room was the biggest of the three rooms occupied by women detainees and was overcrowded (30 detainees and only 24 beds). The room is provided with a TV and a radio set. The inmates receive newspapers daily. The detainees complained about the roaches and rats. The lavatory consisted of a toilet, a sink and a shower. They get hot water twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. The detainees go out for walks daily for about half an hour.
Many detainees complained that they are not allowed to discuss with their lawyers in court, when they are scheduled to be heard.
2.5. The visiting area
The visiting area consists of a mess hall and a hall where 5 detainees can discuss simultaneously "round the table" with their visitors, plus 2 booths for dangerous detainees. The only pay phone is also located in this area, in the very booth of the non-commissioned officer in charge of receiving and checking the parcels brought by the visitors. The non-commissioned officer dials the number and then passes the receiver to the detainee through a window, so that the detainees have no privacy when they make phone calls.
- APADOR-CH asks the management of the Galati penitentiary to pay more attention to the restrictive regime and isolation area. The detainees are dissatisfied with the non-commissioned officers' resentments and pettyfoggery, which are as many potential reasons for unwanted events. The association asks the penitentiary management to investigate the situation of Stefan Mocanu, detained in Room 1 (isolation and restrictive regime).
- APADOR-CH considers that the deed committed by the non-commissioned officer who had stolen 7-8 kilograms of meat from the detainees' food (almost 1/3 of the 28.5 kg. allotted that day for the 1383 detainees) is extremely serious. The association urges DGP to take the appropriate measures in order to prevent the staff from stealing the detainees' food.
- APADOR-CH considers that some of the restrictions imposed on the detainees placed under restrictive regime are excessive: they cannot watch TV or listen to the radio, they get only 1/4 of the food share allotted to regular detainees. As for the ban on correspondence, the association believes that these detainees should be allowed at least to announce their families that they have been placed under restrictive regime, during which time they are not allowed to receive visits, send and receive letters, etc.
Manuela
Stefanescu
Valerian Stan