Romanian Parliament passes weekend jail draft bill

The plenum of the Chamber of Deputies passed on Wednesday, April 25, the draft bill that sets alternative ways for serving prison sentences, with 170 votes in favor and 81 votes against, local Digi24 reported. The Chamber of Deputies had the final vote on this bill, which will now go to the president. The opposition parties already announced that they would challenge the draft bill at the Constitutional Court. The Chamber of Deputies’ Judicial Committee also passed the project earlier this week. The bill provides that people with jail convictions of maximum five years can serve their sentences at home or by staying incarcerated only in weekends. Those who serve their sentences at home will be supervised by employees of the Ministry of Interior, with or without the help of electronic bracelets. This will apply after the convicts serve one fifth of their sentences in normal detention. However, it won’t apply to people convicted for violent crimes or for some corruption crimes such as bribery and influence peddling. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com