The detention capacity in many of the national penitentiaries was exceeded. As the previous years, Penitentiary No. 13 in Chisinau is the most crowded one, said experts of Promo-LEX Association, who make reference to data provided by the National Administration of Penitentiaries for 2022. According to them, crowdedness highlights a number of serious problems in the penitentiary system, including the precarious detention conditions, IPN reports.

This way, in six penitentiaries out of 17, the detention capacity was exceeded, while the incarceration rate in Moldova is by over 25% higher than the European average. In penitentiary No. 13, for example, the detention ceiling is 570 persons, but 948 persons are actually held there.

Promo-LEX said that despite the multiple recommendations formulated by a number of international organizations and the efforts to improve the detention conditions in Moldova’s jail, crowdedness remains a topical problem that requires immediate solutions.

According to the experts, the measures to reduce crowdedness and to improve detention conditions should center on three directions. Legislative amendments are needed to reduce the population in prisons. The detention conditions should be improved and the imposition of non-custodial penalties should be facilitated.