75 convicts escape from prison

Last year, 75 people escaped from Serbian prisons, but most were immediately caught and returned! According to the latest data from the Administration for the Execution of Institutional Sanctions, only two escapes were from the closed section, and both fugitives were found within a short time.

The rest were mostly departures from the semi-open section of the institution, where guards are not as strict, or convicts failing to return from weekends or other types of privileges, reports the Patria news agency.

When late returns from weekends spent at home are added to this number, the figure reaches 131, but this is still the lowest number of escapes in the last few years.

In terms of prison security levels, Serbia neither lags behind nor leads compared to other countries, says Miloš Janković, deputy ombudsman and member of the United Nations Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

- Prisoners do not escape from prison because their safety is threatened, but primarily because of the desire for their freedom not to be restricted - Janković notes.

The safety of convicts can be threatened either by other inmates or due to staff abuse. Violations of prisoners' rights will always occur, but visits conducted by the ombudsman have shown that in Serbia, convicts are not victims of systematic and organized abuse. Such cases are isolated, writes Novosti.