Ira Bedrac, an adviser to the Human Rights Ombudsman, said that it was the overcrowdedness of Croatian prisons that led to various forms of human rights violations.
Croatia has a relatively low prison population rate -- 64 persons per 100,000 -- which is below the European average and considerably lower than in the most developed Western countries. The reason for concern is an annual increase in the prison population of 9.7 per cent and the fact that Croatia has a high percentage of pre-trial detention orders (30.1 per cent), which ranks it fourth on a list of 17 European countries, Professor Davor Krapac of the Zagreb Law School said in his presentation.
According to a report by Marija Josipovic of the Justice Ministry Department for the Prison System, Croatia has 21 prisons and two juvenile correctional facilities. On December 31 last year, 3,822 persons (3,637 men and 185 women) were serving their sentences.
Noting that the occupancy rate was largest in the Lepoglava and Glina penitentiaries (141 per cent), Josipovic stressed the need for the construction of new prison facilities, the purchase of new equipment, additional staff and financial support.