Moabit prison at full capacity and other prisons quite full
Berlin's Moabit prison is at its limit. According to the latest occupancy statistics, the prison's occupancy rate was 100 percent (as of November 22), a week earlier it was even 103 percent. This is a continuation of what left-wing politician Sebastian Schlüsselburg sees as a worrying trend. In August, the occupancy rate at Moabit Prison (JVA) was already at 99 percent.
The prison, which has 852 places (as of November 8), mainly houses prisoners on remand. This makes sense because the prison is located in the immediate vicinity of the criminal court and is connected to it by an underground tunnel. The accommodation of pre-trial detainees in Moabit is "guaranteed throughout", according to the Senate Justice Administration in response to an inquiry from the German Press Agency.
On November 15, there was a "peak occupancy" due to a significant increase in the number of remand prisoners. In the event of such a bottleneck, "an orderly and established procedure is applied", it said. This means that offenders who have already been sentenced and are also being held in Moabit in smaller numbers are transferred to other prisons earlier than originally planned.
Capacity utilization also remains high in Berlin's other prisons. According to statistics, it is 86 percent (as of November 22). Accordingly, 3527 of the 4122 available places were occupied. In mid-August, the occupancy rate was 84 percent, at the end of July it was 82 percent.
"The current occupancy situation in Berlin's prisons shows no particular trend," the justice administration stated. The overall occupancy rate has remained relatively constant since 2020 at 85% with around 3,500 prisoners.
However, Schlüsselburg, a politician on the left, believes that the workload for employees in the prison service is increasing. Around 215 positions are currently vacant. These must be filled as quickly as possible and should not be cut in view of the tight budget situation, demanded the legal policy spokesperson for the Left Party parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives.
The overcrowding at Moabit prison necessitates the transfer of sentenced prisoners to other penal institutions, showcasing the strain on the prison's capacity. Despite this, the penal system as a whole in Berlin continues to operate at a high capacity, with 86% of its prisons' places being occupied.
Source: www.dpa.com
