63 hectares of farmland will be transformed into residential land and transferred to the Department of Penitentiary Institutions for constructing a new penitentiary on it. The people held in the Chisinau-based Penitentiary No. 13 will be transferred to this new prison. Parliament adopted a bill to this effect in the first reading, IPN reports.
The penitentiary will have a capacity of 1,536 places. As many as 1,200 detainees will be transferred from Penitentiary No. 13, which is in a deplorable state. The other about 400 places will be occupied by prisoners transferred from other jails. Deputy Minister of Justice Nicolae Esanu said in Parliament that the area enables to build a penitentiary in accordance with the European standards.
The Government already borrowed €39 million for constructing the new penitentiary in Bubuieci commune. The EU will also provide financing for the purpose.
The bill was passed by the votes of the MPs of the government coalition. The Communist lawmakers expressed their indignation at the fact that the state spends so much money on building a prison at a time when the population is affected by poverty. The Communists’ leader Vladimir Voronin said he supports morally this initiative as a penitentiary is needed for the current administration.
