The fact that crime is flourishing in the country is evidenced by the overcrowding of prison units. The Federal Ministry of Justice has requested data on the number of detainees in seven correctional facilities. The system is too tight, but the authorities warn – there is no room for panic. However, the story from the field shows otherwise. To put it simply, there may be no room for panic, but there is no room for detainees either.
The Federation is judging, but there is nowhere to imprison. Justice divides years, walls count centimeters. The correctional facilities in Zenica, Orašje, Ustikolina and Busovača have informed the competent institutions in the Sarajevo Canton that they are no longer able to accept new detainees. The director of the Zenica Correctional Facility claimed that there is a problem just a few days ago. The capacity of the places is 46, and they currently have 200 detainees. However, while justice is looking for a place, everything is officially under control.
“The problem is not that serious at all. I don’t think there is any need to create any excessive hype or panic about it. It is just a current situation caused by the works in the Sarajevo Penitentiary and that detention unit which was at a certain point and is now being transferred to the Zenica Penitentiary. At one point we had a small overcrowding which we very clearly and precisely resolved by transferring detainees and prisoners to other penitentiaries,” said FBiH Justice Minister Vedran Škobić (HDZ BiH).
And then there was a turnaround. The director of the Zenica Penitentiary confirms the minister’s words. Suddenly there is no problem.
“We always have space to accommodate, it has never happened that a person was returned from the prison. When the Sarajevo prison had the problem that it had, before I arrived at the Zenica prison, our capacity in Zenica was 42. We have provided additional premises for detainees and currently we have a larger number of detainees and this is not something that happens to us regularly, so we are burdened for that reason,” explains Rusmir Isak, director of the Zenica prison.
And while the authorities are softening their statements and minimizing the problem, the court police are increasing their mileage and taking precautions. Since 2023, when the Sarajevo prison was relocated, their problems with human and material resources have only increased.
“When you have one person who has been sentenced to custody by the court in Sarajevo, and who must be served in Orašje or Bhać, and that person is very often wanted at an early stage – it is really very difficult for us to complete these tasks, the number of kilometers traveled by motor vehicles is large, the costs of maintenance, fuel and everything else have increased, and the number of overtime hours has also increased. Because you have to manage the persons in one case separately,” points out Dženad Grošo, director of the KS Judicial Police.
Meanwhile, the permanent key to the solution is still unlocked. In the paradox that justice exists but has nowhere to stop, the first concrete step is taking place. On Igman above Sarajevo, the construction of the Penitentiary is in progress, which is the first concrete attempt to modernize the prison system.
“We are waiting for the technical acceptance of the Municipality of Ilidža, which is scheduled for Monday next week. After the technical acceptance is completed, which we think we will satisfy, bearing in mind that we did everything according to the project, the capacity will be 55 people. We also have the main facility with 150 detention places,” says Munib Isaković, director of the Sarajevo Penitentiary.
Upon completion of the work, the institution should offer a modern and functional space that respects all security and human rights standards. A complex of several buildings, with modern cells, video surveillance and rooms for prisoners will permanently solve the problem of prison overcrowding.
And the prison on Igman may be a new chapter, but it is not the whole book. While the walls are going up, we forget that some solutions have already been written but forgotten.
“We must find ways to avoid placing this additional burden on the judiciary and the entire system. We also have some statutes in the law that have not been used or have been used very little – home detention or community service,” notes Arben Murtezić, a law professor.
New walls are being built, but without the law, each new cell is just another patched hole in a system that does not function. Because we may solve the problem of the walls, but no one has solved the problem of regulations, politics and will for a long time. Without that, even the thickest walls cannot hold back a system that is cracking from within, Federalna writes.
