Romania wants to modernize prisons with European money

Some 33,000 prisoners currently spend time behind bars in Romania’s 44 jails. The prisons are crowded and most of the spaces don’t meet international standards, which keeps bringing European Court for Human Rights sentences for the Romanian state. The Minister of Justice says this problem could be solved with European funding. “We recently agreed with the Italian Minister of Justice to draft a joint letter to the Commission asking to identify with us, in the next period, a funding formula to revamp prison infrastructure,” said the Romanian Minister of Justice Robert Cazanciuc, cited by local Digi24. Another option would be the construction of new prisons, under public-private partnership. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com