site.btaGovernment Provides Ten Million Leva for Increasing Pay to Prison Wardens

Government Provides Ten Million Leva for Increasing Pay to Prison Wardens

Sofia, January 18 (BTA) - The government approved Wednesday additional spending in the budget of the Justice Ministry to provide ten million leva for the needs of the Directorate General of Implementation of Penal Sanctions and the Security Directorate General. The money will go towards increasing the salaries of prison wardens.

Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said that the work of prison wardens is extremely hard and that their salaries had not been increased for more than seven years, which made many officers leave. At the same time, the low pay does not attract job seekers to fill in the numerous vacancies.

Zaharieva stressed that the pay rise was not an election campaign move but had been a commitment of the outgoing government since 2016. The money will come from the higher than projected budget revenues in 2016.

The Justice Minister said also that for the first time in many years, metal-detectors were purchased for prisons, and a mobile devices jamming system for the prison in Belene. Repair works were carried out in three prisons in 2016, while repair works in almost all prisons will be completed in 2017. Money for this is being provided from the outlays in the 2017 budget of the Ministry.

Head of the Directorate General of Implementation of Penal Sanctions, Gergana Georgieva, noted the importance of protecting the social and work rights of the employees in the system.