"We believe the capacities will be enough for the number of prisoners predicted for future, and we will be able to relieve also the other prisons in Slovenia," explained the director general of the Prison Administration of the Republic of Slovenia Jože Podržaj. He added that an educational centre for the employees has been planned as well. The Administration is participating in design of substantive and consequently architectural solutions, but for now the project is still in the "conceptual design" phase.

The prison will be dynamic, which is one of the basic principles of the new project. It will be possible to adjust it to security requirements of several categories of prisoners, from those dangerous to those who present risk of flight etc. At the moment segregation of prisoners is the greatest problem, as the Slovenian prisons are overcrowded. In both prisons open sections are planned as well.

Criminal offences against property are the most frequent
Last year 2817 persons were imprisoned, 45 more than the year before. The structure of criminal offences is very similar as in previous years, as more than one half were offences against property (53%), next are criminal offences against human health mostly involving drugs (13%), offences against life and body (8%), economic crimes (less than 6%) and sexual offences (5%), he explained.

The most prisoners were convicted to a prison sentence in the duration of one or two years (21%), to sentences longer than five years (18%), while 16 prisoners have been sentenced to the highest possible prison sentence of 30 years. 13% of the prisoners in Slovenia are foreigners from 29 different countries.

Gorazd Kosmač
Translated by G. K.