MOLDOVA: With overcrowding and lack of funds, prison conditions are appalling, writes Ann McElhinney in Chisinau, Moldova
Fourteen-year-old Igor is in a tiny cell with 10 other children. It has little natural light. The barred window has a sheet of torn plastic to insulate against the cold - temperatures can go as low as -25C.
Outside his cell sits a vat of vile- looking gruel. It is his lunch.
Igor is allowed one hour of exercise a day. Because he has no shoes, he doesn't always get that. The other 23 hours he is locked up.
The cell is overcrowded and dark. Yet Igor has been found guilty of no crime. He is accused of theft and is awaiting trial. He will spend at least a year and maybe up to six years in this cell before he has his day in court.
This is the juvenile "justice" system in a European country.Prison Number 3 is in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, Europe's poorest country. Between Romania and Ukraine, the Economist describes Moldova as "nowhereland", not so much forgotten as never remembered. Outside the prison, the average salary is $30 a month.
Ion Seremet, the prison director, blames the country's chronic poverty for the conditions. "We have this year only 46 per cent of the money we need to run the prison. Everything is about money. We would accept help from anyone."
The shaven-haired children in the juvenile wing are subdued and pale. They are excited about having a visitor. When I ask them what changes they would like to see they are quick to respond.
"More light" is their immediate reply. They would also like to have their one-hour walk in the yard extended and for the radio that plays most of the day to be turned off.
In a poorly conceived effort to improve conditions, a charity has installed speakers in all the cells. The problem is that another charity had the same idea and fitted speakers outside the cell windows. The two systems maddeningly blare different music.
Igor is one of 3,600 men, women and children detained by the Moldovan authorities pending trial. Moldova has a slightly smaller population than Ireland.
Amnesty International describes the conditions as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Stephan Uratu, chairman of the Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights says their plight is a human rights' abuse. "It's not normal to have 3,600 people in remand. This figure points to a violation of human rights."
He says many of those held for lengthy periods are accused of stealing a couple of bottles of wine.
It is hard to imagine but the dark and dreary juvenile wing of Chisinau Prison Number 3 has been renovated. Previously not all the children had a bed and the toilet was in the corner - now a small wall around it offers some privacy.
Veaceslav Toncoglaz, deputy director at Moldova's Justice Ministry, proudly arranges visits to show off the improvements.
"We have renovated the juvenile section. Now everyone has a place to sleep. We took away the blinds so the light could come in. Before there was no natural light in the cells," says Mr Toncoglaz.
The adult section of the prison was built to accommodate 1,470 inmates. When I visited the population was 1,765. This severe overcrowding means there is always someone who doesn't have a bed.
"They sleep in shifts. At some times we have 2,000 detainees. You can imagine what it's like then," says Mr Toncoglaz.
Tuberculosis affects more than 10 per cent of the prison population. Overcrowding and limited access to fresh air exacerbate the problem.
The Moldovan judiciary are underfunded and poorly trained. Galina Mirovskaya, the children's prison guard criticises the system. She says the children's lawyers never visit them.
"The state appoints lawyers for each of the children. They do not come to see them. Will you write this? Will you tell them that their lawyers never come?" she says.