BHC Annual Report - Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2011
Chart 5 Number of accused in detention centres as of December 31 by year (2002-11) 9704 9356
9319
8883
8786
8614 8320 8116
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Source: Central Penitentiary Administration
of detainees transferred “by delegation� for trial or pre-trial proceedings. The total number of individuals who passed through detention centers during the year is around 20,000. The overcrowding of detention centres in large cities that serve as regional centers is much greater than in detention centres in smaller cities. As in previous years, the greatest overcrowding was found in detention centres in Ruse, Dobrich, Varna, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Pleven and other cities, where the practice continues of placing a greater number of individuals in cells than their capacity allows. Extensive overcrowding at given periods of time was also characteristic for the detention centers in border towns (Petrich, Slivnitsa and Svilengrad). The marked increase in the period of detention in detention centres for more than two months and more than six months is an alarming tendency that continued in 2011 too, while the material conditions in the more than 43 detention centres in Bulgaria remained exceptionally poor. During the preceding ten years this was the reason for numerous complaints by detainees, who argued that the very stay at deten-
tion centres was in and of itself inhuman and degrading. In the detention centres in Gabrovo, Petrich, Slivnitsa and Pazardzhik, detainees are held in underground cells. In most of the detention centers, the cells do not have windows, and the only lighting is artificial. The dimensions of the cells in some detention centers (Vratsa, Sliven) are exceptionally small. The open space per detainee is less than one sq. m. In a total of 18 of the detention centers, open-air premises are lacking and detainees do not have any opportunity whatsoever for physical exercise for months on end. Only 16 of the detention centers have open-air premises. Another 10 are equipped with indoor premises for physical exercise. Only nine of the detention centers have in-cell sanitation facilities. In all the other centers, access to sanitation facilities depends on the goodwill of the security personnel and in cases in which it is not possible for employees to open the cells upon every request for access to the sanitation facilities, the detainees are forced to meet their physiological needs inside the cell in front of all of the other inhabitants. In cases in which the cells have been filled beyond
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