The officers of the Administration for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (UIKS) have been left by the state at the mercy of the most hardened criminals in the entire region, and the official ID card and blue uniform, through the actions of the Government of Montenegro, have been brought to the level where it is easier and safer to be dressed in shorts.
This is stated in a statement signed by the president of the Prison Officers' Union, Milan Ilibašić.
He said that UIKS officials expect the new Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions to be adopted as soon as possible, which, he pointed out, will restore the powers and level of personal security within UIKS and in the private environment.
Ilibašić also said in the statement that due to the decision-makers' moves, UIKS "has become a place from which unemployed young people and quality personnel flee."
The statement of the Union of Prison Officers is reproduced below in its entirety:
"The situation in the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions is all the more likely, in addition to the announced strike by detainees, it will also culminate due to the accumulated enormous dissatisfaction of employees, mostly prison police officers.
The state or someone individually is consciously working on the total collapse of the security situation in UIKS. It is known that the current structure of convicted persons, and especially detained persons awaiting verdicts, is one of the most risky since the very creation of the prison system in Montenegro. By carelessness and conscious devastation of the working conditions of employees, then security conditions and by gradually creating an environment where, according to the announcement of the President of the Supreme Court, a constellation of world-renowned criminals will reside or be convicted, so that they can enjoy themselves as Escobar enjoyed himself in his private prison. We wonder if this is the goal of our constant humiliation and devaluation of our profession.
The withdrawal of authority and weapons from authorized prison officers, who should, through their professional work and attitude, be held accountable for the prison population, or for protection in private family life, is a precedent and a very dangerous situation that demotivates both the work of existing officers and the hiring of new, quality personnel.
Responsible factors at the highest level have left UIKS, in terms of security, at the mercy of the most hardened criminals in the entire region. When the verdicts are made in the near future, which is why the prisoners' strike has been announced, there is a great risk that they could easily find themselves outside the prison walls.
For these reasons, which are currently the biggest problem in UIKS, we ask the Government to take responsibility, we emphasize that it will be responsible if they do not take urgent action, because we are saying publicly and for the record, that UIKS officials will not be guilty or responsible.
The official ID card and blue uniform, through the actions of the Government of Montenegro, have been brought to the level where it is easier and safer to be dressed in shorts, because when they do not appreciate and value the work of prison officers, one can think that the prison population is experiencing the same situation.
We expect the new Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions to be adopted as soon as possible, through which the powers and level of personal security within UIKS and in private settings will be restored.
We expect that the extension of favorable retirement conditions for exhausted and worn-out prison officers will be urgently regulated, as has already been made possible for the police and firefighters, and negotiations on increasing salaries must also be urgently initiated, because our salaries are lower than those of railway workers, waiters, taxi drivers and others, with full respect for them and their jobs.
One of the major problems is also to stimulate employees not to leave UIKS, as well as to attract quality managerial and civil service solutions. This can only be done by solving all the previously mentioned problems, as well as fulfilling the requirements for improving the working and social position of employed civil servants.
UIKS has become a place from which unemployed young people and quality personnel flee. Complicated and lengthy procedures greatly complicate new employment, and low salaries and poor working conditions only further contribute to this.
"We want a safe working and family environment, we want to retire, higher salaries, new uniforms and quality and numerous new staff, because we believe that we are a very important factor in the security structure of Montenegro," the statement signed by Ilibašić reads.
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