Union leader: Romanian prisons use detainees as guards

Over 300 detainees are currently used to guard prisons in the country, Sorin Dumitraşcu, the president of the Unions' Federation of the National Prisons Administration, said, quoted by Mediafax. Even detainees who are part of mafia groups are used for the job, he said. “According to recent data, over 300 detainees are used for guarding penitentiaries, at 21 prisons. These are detainees with all kind of sentences; there are also detainees part of mafia groups who are used for the job,” Dumitraşcu explained. The detainees are tasked with keeping guard and, “theoretically, paying attention that nobody attempts to enter or get out, or facilitate someone’s escape,” he said. The detainees are used because of the staff deficit. With this job, they benefit from a shorter sentences and other advantages. “They are used because we have a huge staff deficit, this is the reason we have one million unpaid hours,” he explained. Dumitraşcu made the statements at a protest of the employees working in penitentiaries. Some 300 union members gathered on October 3 in front of the Justice Ministry to protest the working conditions in penitentiaries and the salary levels. Romania’s Justice Ministry borrows EUR 223 mln for modernizing prisons editor@romania-insider.com