ZAGREB, Dec 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Justice Ministry's prison administration stated on Wednesday that 13 inmates of the Lepoglava prison who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder had stopped taking prison meals.
ZAGREB, Dec 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Justice Ministry's prison
administration stated on Wednesday that 13 inmates of the Lepoglava
prison who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder had stopped
taking prison meals. #L#
A Croatian daily reported today that some 20 Croatian war veterans
serving their sentences at Lepoglava had been on a hunger strike
since Saturday claiming they were discriminated against compared
to Serb inmates convicted of war crimes.
Commenting on the report, the head of the prison administration,
Josip Hehet, said that the privilege of being granted home leave,
which reportedly not all prisoners are entitled to, depends mostly
on the duration of the sentence, the type and gravity of the crime as
well as the duration of the term the prisoner is yet to serve.
"It is important to say that the average duration of the verdicts of
the inmates who are refusing prison meals at Lepoglava is 10 years
and 7 months, and that 75 percent of them were convicted of murder,
19 percent of drug dealing, and six percent of grand larceny," Hehet
said.
He added that all inmates who were refusing prison food were
included in a programme of psychological help due to PTSD. The
programme is conducted under the supervision of Zagreb's Rebro
clinic, which guarantees its quality, he said.
Around 50 people diagnosed with PTSD are serving sentences in
Croatian prisons, of whom 27 in Lepoglava.
Hehet did not comment on the inmates' claims about alleged ethnic
discrimination.
(hina) rml sb