Country

Hungary

Detention issue

Juvenile prisoners

FRA research findings

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Legal instruments & key provisions

Legal instrument Key provision
Penitentiary Code (2013. évi CCXL. törvény a büntetések, az intézkedések, egyes kényszerintézkedések és a szabálysértési elzárás végrehajtásáról)The prison system has special juvenile correctional institutions for young criminal offenders where they are completely separated from adults. Offenders under the age of 21 are considered juveniles.
Decree of the Minister of Human Capacities no. 1/2015 on the rules of juvenile correctional institutions (1/2015. (I. 14.) EMMI rendelet a javítóintézetek rendtartásáról)In juvenile correctional institutions, the offenders are accommodated in living quarters instead of cells. A quarter consists of bedrooms, study rooms, a living room for common use and sanitary blocks. Living quarters may include a kitchen. There has to be a minimum of five square metres bedroom/study room area granted to each person. The common living room must be at least 30 m2 per quarter.

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS

Year Recommendation Report
2017The NPM emphasised that, in order to ensure their long-term social reintegration, illiterate inmates should be encouraged to participate in primary education. Graduation from primary school would provide additional opportunities to young prisoners to reintegrate into society, e.g., to obtain their driving licence. The knowledge acquired by them would give them moral strength, earn them recognition and provide them with an opportunity to escape their earlier, disadvantaged social environment. The NPM has pointed out that maintaining contact is extremely important in the case of juvenile detainees, that is why measures have to be taken in order to let detainees make full use of the time provided for phone communication with the outside world. Report details
2018The NPM request the director of the juvenile correctional facility to guarantee that juveniles under the age of 16 can only be placed in one group with the older inmates exceptionally and only on the order of the director. Report details