A new prison for men, with a capacity of 832 places, is to be built in the town of Rimavská Sobota (Banská Bystrica Region). The cabinet greenlighted the plan at its away-from-home session in Hnúšťa on Monday, February 26, the TASR newswire reported.
The prison will be built via a public-private partnership, as a feasibility study has shown that this would be the most beneficial form of the project.
At the session, the cabinet tasked Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská (Most-Híd) with selecting a contractor to be in charge of design and construction as well as the operation and maintenance of the prison. Subsequently, Žitňanská and Finance Minister Peter Kažimír (Smer) will submit the definitive version of the concession contract.
Based on estimates, a 20-year concession should cost the state a total of €222.7 million. Another €154 million will be spent as part of the increased expenditures of the Justice and Prison Guards Department (ZVJS). The concession contract for 2021-2041 will be signed after the construction of the prison.
By building a new prison, the state is seeking to address long-term problems with overcrowded prisons, the poor technical condition of facilities and insufficient funding of the sector.
