Last week, the Chief of the Lovech Prison, Commissioner Rosalina Ganekova, was dismissed after her application for departure. On the first working day of this week, Justice Minister Krum Zarkov personally visited the place of imprisonment, from which he ordered the Chief Director of the Directorate General for Execution of Sentences to take urgent measures to improve the material and living conditions in the Lovech Prison for the timely completion of the management.
In the media space, information emerged that the pressure from a person with power had been exerted to remove Ganekova. Provoked by the allegations and by the sudden inspection of the Minister of Justice, by Iskra.bg we sought comment to comment the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Employees in Prison in Bulgaria Yassen Todorov. He explained that he could not confirm this information, but the rumors in question had reached them.
“We have heard this version, but we have to come out of the fact that one of our main demands is to end the subjugation of this directorate, to have greater transparency in the competitions, although we are not able to participate in competitions for management positions. This is the job of the Directorate, but it is observed that the so -called convenient nodal positions are put on”, he said, adding that different names of people are already heard who will possibly hold the post.
Rosalina Ganekova took the position of director of the prison in Lovech from November 2016 to March 10 this year. According to Todorov, the employees who are members of the union of prisons in Bulgaria were pleased with the work and even supported the proposal to give her a plaque for high contribution and support in the development of the union, moral Stoicism and merit for the development of Social cooperation in the prison system.
During the Minister of Justice, it was established that the necessary actions were not taken to minimize overtime work by the employees of the prison in Lovech. Todorov also commented on this case as follows:
“Lovech is a large prison with over 500 prisoners. These prisoners often get sick. There is a hospital in the prison, where they are sent from neighboring prisons, people for treatment, but when hospital treatment itself cannot provide treatment, prisoners are brought to external hospitals and in fact there is an accumulation of overtime. This is not something that is in the prison chief. When the doctor says that treatment should be provided, the prison chief must appoint the appropriate security. He has no moral right to remove employees from the supervisory staff to send them to the hospital. In reality, the directorate may want this because with this resource they have the wardens, they cannot cover everything.”
As soon as overtime is accumulated, it means that more employees are needed, Todorov is adamant.
Expect a sequel in which the chairman of the union of prisons in Bulgaria explains to Iskra.bg what problems the reform has led to the change in the working hours of the warders in prisons.
