The Serbian penal system includes 29 prisons holding over 8,500 prisoners and faces many problems after years of underinvestment and outdated legislation. The Serbian government has embarked on a programme of judiciary facilities upgrading which includes prisons.
This project concerns the construction and equipping of two new prison facilities in Pancevo and Kragujevac. These will be built according to European Prison Rules and will thus: provide accommodation with two prisoners per cell and space for socialising; eliminate conditions which infringe on prisoners' human rights; and, allow prisoners to engage in work activities and vocational training.
Technical assistance funded by the WBIF has already supported the projects' preparatory activities: elaboration of the feasibility report and operational plans for each prison; launch of a call for proposals and a competition for design ideas; provision of the complete design documentation needed for the execution of construction works; organisation of study tours and capacity building activities for staff members of the Ministry of Justice to introduce them to contemporary EU prison practices, and rules and recommendations for prison construction. A WBIF grant was also approved to cover the technical control of the local main design and assist in the preparation of tender dossiers for works for the two prisons. An additional WBIF grant was approved in December 2014 to defray the costs associated with works supervision.
The project is now at the construction stage, with Pancevo commissioned in October 2018.
| WBIF | Grant | TA3-SER-SOC-03 | € 700,000 |
| WBIF | Grant | WB8-SER-SOC-13 | € 703,500 |
| WBIF | Grant | WB11-SER-SOC-02 | € 110,550 |
| WBIF | Grant | WB12-SER-SOC-01 | € 1,419,765 |
| CEB | Loan | € 17,949,146 | |
| Beneficiary Contribution | Own Contribution | € 34,247,217 | |
| CEB | Loan | € 17,000,000 | |
| Total | € 72,130,178 | ||
| Total Grants | € 2,933,815 | ||
| Total Loans | € 34,949,146 | ||
