Romania's Justice Ministry borrows EUR 223 mln for modernizing prisons

Romania’s Justice Ministry will borrow EUR 223 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) to modernize the local prison infrastructure, the Government decided on Wednesday, March 7. The bad detention conditions and prison overcrowding have led to many decisions against Romania at the European Court for Human Rights, obliging the Romanian state to pay hundreds of thousands of euro to inmates who were held in improper conditions. The Justice Ministry has been struggling to find solutions to these problems. The Government also approved yesterday a memorandum allowing the Justice Ministry to take a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for its “Justice Quarters” project in Bucharest. The cost of this project is to be determined by IBRD experts. Solutions to prison overcrowding in Romania: Electronic monitoring, more places in prisons editor@romania-insider.com