Five prisoners are in critical condition from burns and smoke inhalation in a fire that broke out on Monday at Bilice prison, Split Clinical Hospital reported on Tuesday, where the prisoners were brought after the fire and are receiving intensive treatment.
Among the five patients whose lives are in danger is one foreign citizen, KBC spokeswoman Kristina Bitanga told Hina. The patients are aged between 27 and 41.
According to her, nine prisoners and one judicial police officer were transported from the prison to the hospital after the fire.
One patient was hospitalized in the Department of Neurology, and three were discharged after examination and treatment. A judicial police officer was also dismissed from the hospital, she said.
Iz Sindikata državnih i lokalnih službenika i namještenika RH ocijenili su taj događaj "jasnim upozorenjem" da je sustav na rubu. Na to su ukazali i na prošlotjednom prosvjedu ispred remetinečkog zatvora gdje su pravosudni policajci zatražili donošenje zakona koji će omogućiti poboljšanje sustava i radno- materijalnog statusa službenika i namještenika u kaznenim tijelima koja su prekapacitirana.
"Fires may not be everyday, but crises are. It's just that the public doesn't see them. Or hasn't seen them? Until now," the union said.
"In the Split prison, the same people who are usually ignored responded again: judicial police officers, medical and technical staff, and penal officers. They put out the fire, literally and metaphorically," they added.
The fire in Bilice, they pointed out, showed that prisons are chronically under-capacity, that there is a lack of judicial police officers, technical and professional staff, and that prisons are over-capacity.
"The number of prisoners often exceeds the system's capacity many times over. In such circumstances, even a minor incident can easily escalate into a serious security problem," they warned.
They once again requested urgent and concrete action from the competent institutions, i.e. the adoption of a special law for employees in criminal bodies, the harmonization of material rights and severance pay with the security services, as well as staff renewal and relief of workers.
Photo: Hina
