The Director of the Penal Sanctions Enforcement Administration Dejan Carević and the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Ambassador Sem Fabrizi visited today a newly constructed pavilion of the Women’s Penal Correctional Institution in Požarevac which can accommodate 160 female convicts.
“The new pavilion has solved the issue of accommodation capacities for female convicts and improved their living and working conditions,” Carević said.
He explained that the pavilion was equipped with bed linen sewn by female convicts and furniture made by male convicts of Zabela who had previously undergone training in these jobs.
Carević recalled that courses for jobs in demand were delivered in all institutions, and that several programmes had been launched at that particular institution, such as the training course intended for female convicts to become tailors and the certified computer skills course.
He thanked the EU for its support in terms of funding training programmes for more than 500 inmates in three largest prisons (Sremska Mitrovica, Niš and Zabela) to become welders, bakers, screen printing workers, furniture makers…
“I was able to see today some of the products made by inmates, such as furniture and bedclothes, and I am pleased indeed that, thanks to the EU assistance, inmates will gain education and skills that will give them a better chance for finding jobs in the future,” Fabrizi said.
The new 2,600-square-metre pavilion of the female prison will house an open, semi-open and misdemeanour wards. The value of the works is EUR 1.7 million, 85% of which was funded by the EU.
Carević and Fabrizi also toured a newly constructed male pavilion in Zabela which can accommodate 216 convicts. The tour included the welding workshop and the bakery, both hiring convicts to work there upon their completion of training.
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