Officials appeal to the conscience of the Minister – Respublika.lt

Employees of the Kybartai Correctional Institution wrote to Justice Minister Evelina Dobrovolskas. Photo by Dainius Labutis

“The news that the Kybartai correctional facility will no longer exist and the employees who worked there will be transferred to the Marijampolė correctional facility was unexpected, so many questions arise. One of them is what awaits the employees?

Prison system officials and employees are promised that they will retain their jobs by transferring them to the State Border Guard Service or transferring them to other correctional institutions. It is not clear to us what the Ministry of Justice means when it says that it will be possible to change the service by passing to the State Border Guard Service. Does this mean that the party who will not have a job at the Marijampolė Correctional Center will have a “free choice”: go to the street or go to the protection of migrants, that is, to be a non-statutory worker who no longer have social guarantees ? “- asked the Minister of Justice.

The signers fear for themselves and their colleagues.

“Let’s remember the closure of Lukiškės, when about 100 employees lost their jobs, no matter how much time and care the coordination had at that time. When closing the Kybartai prison, will all employees have a place of work, that is, not real, but real, with a desk and a separate computer, or according to a profile? Will it not be possible to create jobs in a month and some workers will simply no longer be needed?

It is not clear why it was not treated in a civilized manner, and the agreements between the Ministries of the Interior and Justice were born before the workers were informed. We are very disappointed that the staff is back in last place.

What prisons do you expect to close after Kybartai? Has the number of convicted persons already decreased and is it clearly decreasing in Lithuania? Have all threats to prison abandonment been assessed? Especially those who don’t want to speak out loud: that there are cases of hasty convict transfers in which there are convicts from different regimes in the same pile? These are additional challenges, risks and threats, as well as a matter of public safety. Will it not cost the State the urgency when the dissatisfied convicts begin to complain about the latter and demand compensation?

What do officials, employees, and not just Kybartai Correctional Home think and feel today, seeing an example where in one night their lives lose their foundation under their feet and ignorance arises?

Would the politicians making this hasty decision feel good if tomorrow the Minister offered them to go to work as migrant protection workers, because it is still a job? “Officials are asking questions.

They say they do it not to undermine the job of a security guard, but to illustrate that change itself alters psychological well-being as uncertainty arises and future prospects blur.

“So, would the politician feel good and make a decision with joy and happiness? There are people behind every decision. It is the changes foreseen by the Ministry of Justice that are unexpected for officials and can generate health problems. The system it is being destroyed little by little, in one bite, abandoning this or that institution. And although it is said that it will relocate all the civil servants, we do not believe much, because there has been a similar conversation about police reform, which has resulted in the exit from many good and experienced officials, so we are observing events and feeling that the system is under the knife, piece, “the letter reads.

Vakaro žinios recalls that the current government has set out to show the location of illegal immigrants. Such plans, which were tried to conceal, were discovered and made public by Algirdas Butkevičius, an elected MP in the Vilkaviškis constituency.

He is surprised that the illegal Kybartai Penitentiary Center will be housed only temporarily (this is reinforced by the fact that it is planned to equip them with modular houses for more than 700 million euros, respectively), and the prison will be closed forever and later. . .will be empty.

A. Butkevičius assured that it will remain empty forever, as it will be transferred to the Property Bank, and no one will want to privatize it, because investing in Kybartai is not worth it due to its inconvenient geographical location and poor logistics.