The penal-correctional Institution Zenica (KPZ) is the largest and the oldest prison in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Songs were made about it, and the fans of the football club Čelik from Zenica got the famous nickname Robijaši (The Prisoners).
This year is the year when 130th anniversary of the establishment of this institution is marked. This institution currently accommodates 813 prisoners with the highest prison sentence of 40 years. The prison was built during the Austro-Hungarian rule, between 1886 and 1889, outside of the city center. As the city expanded, so the settlements started expanding towards the prison walls. Although it has changed five different countries, the prison remained on the same place, as the most famous and the largest prison in BiH. KPZ Zenica is the only closed prison in FBiH, and the remaining six prisons are semi-closed. Accommodation capacity of the detention unit is 770, while there are 40 to 50 beds for persons who are sentenced to alternative measures (with electronic bracelet). According to the Director Hidajet Jabandžić, these numbers change on a daily basis.
“Several prisoners serve the highest prison sentence of 54 years and 220 prison guards take care of all the prisoners. In addition to accommodation and permanent organizational units in the prison, we also have certain arable land, greenhouses, two agricultural farms where vegetables are grown for prisoners’ food. The prison has its own bakery, too, as well as other facilities necessary for a normal life of prisoners. Prisoners receive wage amounting to 200 BAM for performing the mentioned jobs within voluntary work. With that money they can buy additional food, and majority of them sends that money to their families because they are mostly social cases,” Jabandžić said.
Prisoners in KPZ Zenica have an opportunity to attend elementary and high school within the prison. Conditions that prisoners must fulfill in order to attend a certain level of education are clearly defined and available on all bulletin boards in the prison circle, along with results that are expected from them.
“Prisoners with good behavior can stay outdoors every day. According to behavior, prisoners are divided into three categories A, B, and C. Prisoners in the A category are those with the best behavior, including around 70 percent of all prisoners, while ten percent of prisoners are in the C category with the worst behavior. At this moment, only nine percent of prisoners use the non-custodial conveniences such as going out for the weekend, and it is a relatively low percentage given the total number of 813 prisoners. The prison also has intimate rooms for visits by spouses,” Jabandžić said.
No one has escaped from the prison in Zenica since 1993. The last escape was registered some twenty years ago. According to Jabandžić, the prisoners usually take advantage of non-custodial conveniences, they go out for a weekend and never come back.
“Among the prisoners are also those who intentionally commit a criminal offense in order to be ‘accommodated’. We cooperate with social care centers, and a certain number of employees is in charge for each one of them. Amnesties are not frequent in this prison,” said the Acting Assistant for the Safety of Zenica Prison.
Many prisoners are engaged in different activities. Some of them sing and play instruments, while others make objects of wood or spend time in the prison library with more than 11.000 titles. Majority of the prisoners believe that good book is the best escape from reality.
(Source: klix.ba)
