Romanian inmate hacks into prison IT system, modifies sentences for others

An inmate from the Târgu-Jiu Penitentiary, in southern Romania, managed to access the IT system and modify the way sentences were executed, detention conditions, and other rights for 15 other inmates in other prisons.

The National Union of Penitentiary Police Officers (SNPP) presented a chronology of events showing that the inmate allegedly remained logged into the system for a total of over 300 hours, during which time he was able to modify, for himself and other inmates, sentences, rights within the penitentiary, the visitation schedule, and the money in accounts used to make purchases inside the prison, according to Biziday.

The facts presented by the union members, which appear to be part of an official report, show that the inmate was incarcerated at Târgu Jiu in July, having been transferred from Timișoara. After the transfer, he logged in as an admin on the InfoKiosk terminal used inside penitentiaries with the credentials of an employee from the Dej Penitentiary Hospital.

Once in the system, he allegedly altered data related to purchases inside the penitentiary, allowing him to make a series of purchases without having the amount deducted from his account. This was also how he was discovered by an employee from the accounting department.

Subsequently, he managed to reduce his sentence by entering into the system that he had served more days than he had in reality, the same source said.

“Initially, X accessed data such as room occupancy, inmate movements, and leaves, but starting August 14, 2025, he began accessing and altering data related to the financial records of persons deprived of liberty. The modifications consisted of either altering transaction amounts, creating new transactions, or deleting amounts representing purchases, which led to altering the balances in the financial records of the inmates, allowing them to fraudulently benefit from significant sums of money,” SNPP reported.

In total, 15 inmates were identified as having benefited from this inmate’s actions, through reduced sentences, purchases, money in their accounts, modification of days from compensatory appeals, and granting of visits. The inmates even had access to security data, intervention recordings, and intended to clone the entire application.

According to the union members, the facts were discovered a month ago, but the National Administration of Penitentiaries (or ANP) has not made the case public until now.

In response to the revelations, Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu noted that checks are underway,