With higher VIP arrest inflow, Bucharest Police revamps jail cells

The Bucharest Police arrest has received plenty of media attention lately, as an increasing number of politicians and business people were taken into short term custody and many of them complained of the poor arrest conditions. The Bucharest Police department has thus decided to renovate several jail cells. Work started on February 20 and has now reached the area where men are imprisoned. In the future, the Romanian Police will revamp all of its 52 arrest centers with EUR 1 mln from EU funds, according to sources cited by local Mediafax. The work will be carried out in a project called “Correctional services, including non-custodial sanctions”. According to the Romanian Police, this project targets to modernize the detention centers and to equip them with “air conditioning, gymnastic equipment, security systems and video surveillance, electrical switches with potentiometer, audio system for visiting rooms, air conditioning for 50 transport cars,” reports Mediafax. The Romanian Police manages 3,277 buildings. 52 of them are detention and arrest centers with a capacity of 2,220 places. Over 1,000 people were imprisoned in the Romanian Police’s centers at the end of June 2014, which represented an occupancy rate of 58%. Former Romanian minister Elena Udrea tries to impress fellow MPs by talking about harsh arrest conditions Arrest upgrade: Former Romanian minister wants to pay for her cell renovation Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com