The first state prison, which was ceremoniously opened on July 22, this year after the staffing and completion of training for new employees, received the first prisoners and detainees today, the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated in a press release.
The dynamics of the transfer of prisoners to the Prison for security reasons will be done gradually to allow new staff, but also prisoners to adapt.
According to the Prison Plan, the transfer of all prisoners should be completed by the end of the year. Although the pandemic that hit the world in 2020 greatly hindered the work of the governor and the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the final commissioning of the prison, despite all difficulties, today the first state prison was put into de facto operation.
The object occupies 24,000 m2, 348 cells, of which 298 for prisoners and 50 for detainees.
Every cell where will be located prisoners will occupy a total area of about 12 m2. The beginning of the construction of the high-security institution in which the convicts will be serving their prison sentence lasted for very long.
The first works officially started on the 22nd of July, 2014. After a slow and painful beginning, masters, engineers and construction workers are working on the prison almost every day of the week in the last year.
The cells will not have grid as it is a common practice in prisons, but large windows with bulletproof glass. In the corner of each cell will be installed air-conditioning, and in a small bathroom will be shower, a small sink and toilet. Each floor of the object will have rooms for non-smokers, as well as special rooms for visitors. There will be also special cells for disabled persons and persons with developmental disabilities.
On one side of object will be placed the so called bedrooms with access to the garden. Prisoners will be able to use the Internet, library, sports facilities, and the construction of a large restaurant is currently taking place. The usage of cell phones will be banned. What is interesting is that there will be no workshops within the prison, where prisoners are usually engaged in creative work.
It is especially important to emphasize that the state prison will be secured according to the highest possible safety standards.
“The security system will be at the highest levels, so that there will be no possibility of escape. The prison was designed in accordance with the best safety standards in Europe and the world,” said the Director of the Unit for the construction of the state prison, Zoran Basic.
Since BiH has the problem of overcrowded detention facilities, the plan is to relieve the entity capacities.
