There are 1,393 beds for convicts and detainees in prisons in the Republic of Srpska, and 40 percent of them are empty.
“The current percentage occupancy in correctional institutions is 60 percent”, it was confirmed for “Nezavisne novine” from the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Srpska.
As they added, all convicted persons sent to prison or detention measures are housed in six penal institutions.
“There’s plenty of room”
“Republika Srpska, thanks to the investment works related to the expansion of accommodation capacity, is not among the countries that have the problem of overloading because there is enough accommodation capacity for reception”, explained the relevant ministry.
When it comes to accommodation capacity in penal institutions in Republika Srpska, the total capacity for convicted and detained persons is 1,393, of which 1,103 are for convicted persons, while the capacity for detained persons is 290.
Banja Luka lawyer Marko Mikeš said that his experiences show that after the final judgment, the convicted person receives an invitation to take over the reference document for serving the sentence after 15 to 20 days.
“Convicted persons usually request a postponement of their prison sentence for three months, in most cases, due to family circumstances or their own illness, that is, the illness of a family member. As a rule, the court always approves this, but only the first time. The next time, if the convicted person asks for it again, he cannot get it,” said Mikeš in a statement to “Nezavisne novine”.
Journalist Nebojša Tomašević says that, although there are 40 percent of empty places in prisons throughout Republika Srpska, the fact is that many convicts are still waiting to serve their prison sentences for their misdeeds.
Convicted, but they walk free
This, he added, tells us about the slowness of the bureaucratic apparatus that decides on sending convicts to prison.
“The fact is that many convicts ask for a postponement of their sentence for one reason or another, and that certainly delays the whole process. However, when we take everything into account, we can only suspect that in some cases there is also a delay. It is necessary to make the process of sending convicts to prison more transparent, so that we know exactly why some convicts are walking freely months after the verdict”, says Tomašević in a statement for “Nezavisne novine”.
The Minister of Justice of Republika Srpska, Goran Selak, said, let’s recall, in September of this year that it will soon be determined how many convicted persons are awaiting the execution of their prison sentences.
The Ministry of Justice of the Republika Srpska says that Selak, in accordance with his powers prescribed by law, sent an order to the penal institutions and basic courts in the Republika Srpska with a request to submit data related to the number of decisions, i.e. referral acts, which refer to the referral of convicted persons to serve prison sentences, as well as in the procedure for postponing the execution of prison sentences.
“After receiving the requested information, the Minister of Justice of the Republika Srpska will also hold a joint meeting on this topic with the directors of penal institutions and representatives of basic courts in the Republika Srpska”, the Ministry of Justice announced in a statement to “Independent newspaper“.
