Country

Bulgaria

Detention issue

FRA research findings

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Legal instruments & key provisions

Legal instrument Key provision
Execution of Penalties and Detention in Custody Act (Закон за изпълнение на наказанията и задържане под стража)Violent behaviour, including threatening, is a disciplinary violation, for which prisoners can receive disciplinary sanctions. When absolutely necessary, in cases of violence among prisoners, the prison staff is allowed to use physical force and, if physical force is not sufficient for achieving the result, additional means and tools such as handcuffs, batons, rubber cartridges, etc. All prisons must be equipped with technical and other means of security and control and prisoners must be warned about their use, including the use of audio-visual systems for controlling prisoners’ behaviour.

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS

Year Recommendation Report
2020During the reporting period, more signals were received for violence, both between prisoners and the supervisory and security staff. Report details
2021Key recommendations: […] To improve the control over the correct and timely registration of the cases of exercised physical force […] Report details
2023Despite the progress made, with the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of its eighth visit to Bulgaria, published on 18 October 2022, the CPT identifies as pressing and significant the problems of inter-prisoner violence, the inadequate conditions in prisons and detention facilities in the country, the massive spread of bedbugs and cockroaches, and the lack of meaningful and constructive activities for prisoners. The aforementioned findings are corroborated by inspections carried out by the Ombudsman in its capacity as NPM in 2023, which clearly demonstrates the ongoing need to reform penal policy in the prison system. Report details