15-02-2024 14:01
The Deputy Minister of Justice Georgi Nikolov checked on the spot how the renovation works on the construction of the new dormitory in Vratsa prison are going.
The facility, which should be ready by the end of April this year, has a capacity of up to 200 inmates. The investment project provides for the major renovation and reconstruction of existing buildings and their transformation into a modern prison dormitory, with private bathrooms in the dormitories. Bathrooms, a kitchen block, a meeting room, a canteen, rooms for the supervisory and administrative staff are also in the process of completion.
The funds for the reconstruction of the building are a grant within the Justice Programme under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014 —2021 /NFМ/ and amount to BGN 1 million 614 thousand. The site is part of the project ‘Providing a safe and secure material environment in prisons and detention facilities’.
Deputy Minister Nikolov was accompanied by the Director General of DGEP, Chief Commissioner Ivaylo Yordanov and the Head of the Vratsa Prison, Chief Commissioner Ivan Spasov. Before that they were in Boychinovtsi, where at a meeting with the Governor of Montana, the Mayor of Boychinovtsi and the local community they presented the vision of the DGEP for the hostel in the town.
As of March this year, the prison hostel in Boychinovtsi will be closed and the staff working there will be reassigned to Vratsa. One part of the inmates will be housed in the prison wing in Vratsa and another, larger part — in the new modern dormitory. All employees of the DGEP will be reassigned to Vratsa — to the prison or to the new penitentiary. This will ensure better working conditions for the staff and better conditions for serving the prisoners' sentences.