LESS AND LESS PRISONERS

According to recent surveys since the change of government there has been a decrease of prisoners in Hungarian penal institutions. This tendency is closely related to the changes in the law accepted last year by the ruling parties.

The number of prisoners had increased gradually until 2003 but then it stopped. On April 2, 2004 the statistics pointed out 16 856 persons in detention, almost one thousand less then at the change of government. The decrease must be due to the modified law which has reduced prison terms and introduced the institution of bail. In some cases the conditions of release on parole have been made also easier. Even the number of crimes had been reduced bí 2003: altogether 413 343 crime cases were registered in this year. Almost half of the prisoners are subsequent offenders, most of them between 30-50 years of age. At the moment there are 215 persons imprisoned for life while prisons are 150 pc full. While the previous government followed a policy of restrictions, the Socialist government even in its campaign used liberal slogans, and the message became clear for the prisoners who almost unanimously supported the Socialists. In public prosecution processes half of the criminals have been punished by fines.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó