Hungary Crime Flourishes in Old Prisons

January 1, 1999

Comment: The Hungarian ombudsman commissioned a research about juvenile penitentiary institutions and found that conditions and running them over capacity leads to serious, violent crimes among inmates, while these conditions impede young deliquents’ rights to life, dignity, protection and moral and mental development. He asked the Minister of Justice to develop an action plan of how conditions in juvenile institutions can be improved and recommended that a new correctional facility be built for juveniles. It also found that many young people are put into pretrial detention facililities for adults, where conditions are even more apalling.

The research is key in raising awareness about the conditions of juvenile institutions and about the violations of the rights of these young people. The research draws a very direct connection between violent crimes in prisons and conditions in them, suggesting that by upgrading prisons and increasing capacity, violent crimes can be avoided. The ombudsman asked the courts to share his findings with all judges ruling in juvenile cases and recommended that young people be put into adult jails only as a last resort and in serious, violent cases.