The head of the Administration for the Prison System, Ivan Damjanovic, said that the situation in Croatian prisons was satisfactory, despite the fact that prisons were overcrowded and in a state of poor repair and that they lacked staff and funding.
He also said that the security situation in prisons was satisfactory.
Prisons in Croatia can take in 3,009 prisoners at the most, Damjanovic said, adding that in 2006 there had been 3,680 prisoners, 20 percent more than the year before.
The prison system lacks 413 employees, including 178 judicial police officers. There are only 30 physicians in all 14 prisons, six penitentiaries and two correctional centres, Damjanovic said.
Ombudsman Malcic repeated that conditions in prisons were inhumane and a permanent source of human rights violations, a fact he said the report should have underlined.