Prisoners are set to receive compensation from the Hungarian government for what they call 'poor conditions' in prisons, Népszava reports today.
Citing the National Command of Law Enforcement, the newspaper states that under a law that entered into force on January 1, inmates who have filed petitions can receive a monthly average of 40,000 HUF in compensation, as it can be expected that the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will order the Hungarian state to compensate inmates for the sub-standard prison conditions.
Prison wardens have 15 days to assess petitions filed by inmates. If the prison fails to improve the petitioner’s living conditions or transfer them to a different institution, the inmate can apply for financial compensation through a penitentiary judge, in which case they would have to relinquish their claim to any further compensation. So far 115 inmates have filed for compensation this year, the newspaper said.