UN Rapporteur commends efforts at improving accommodation capacities in Serbia's prisons

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Nils Melzer commended the Ministry of Justice for its efforts to improve living conditions of persons deprived of liberty in Serbia’s correctional institutions.

In a report published on the basis of visits to correctional facilities in November 2017, it was assessed that Serbia had taken significant steps to increase the accommodation capacity of detention units, to build new facilities and reconstruct the existing ones.

The UN Rapporteur stated that large parts of the Niš and Sremska Mitrovica correctional institutions and of the Belgrade District Prison had been completely renovated, thus fully meeting international standards.

The report noted that sanitary and hygienic conditions in prisons were generally satisfactory; however, overcrowding remained an issue in Sremska Mitrovica, which might affect the earlier mentioned aspects of convicts’ accommodation.

The Special Rapporteur welcomed the measures taken by Serbian authorities to address the overcrowding issue by promoting non-custodial measures and to facilitate conditional release, in line with the Strategy for the Development of the Penal Sanctions Enforcement System by 2020 and the Action Plan for its implementation.

It should be noted that the UN Rapporteur expressed his satisfaction that, as far as prisons and detention units under the authority of the Ministry of Justice were concerned, he had not received any complaints of ill-treatment, apart from a few isolated allegations of excessive use of force.

The report lists recommendations for improving the prison system in Serbia, focusing on taking necessary steps to prevent overcrowding and on further reforms to ensure better conditions in detention units.

More hours in open spaces for all categories of inmates are also proposed, as well as more opportunities for work and activities which contribute to both physical and mental health of convicts in semi-open and closed sections, especially those serving long sentences.