In a televised interview, Naço outlined the changes in the draft law, which is currently open for consultation.

Naço highlighted that currently, the ratio of prisoners to police officers in Albania is 1 to 1, which, according to him, is a high burden on the state budget.

The initiative put forward for consultation, according to Naço, aims to reduce the cost per prisoner.

“Based on data and statistics, there are currently 700 prisoners serving sentences for murder and 1,500 for other criminal offenses. Of these, 500 are in maximum-security prisons, while the others are in facilities with high security perimeters. Under the current law, there are maximum-security prisons, regular prisons, low-security prisons, and open prisons,” Naço emphasized.

Naço emphasized that the legislative initiative he proposed is based on models followed in countries such as England, Italy, the Netherlands, Montenegro, and others.
“England, for less serious criminal offenses, allows a prisoner who has 3 years remaining on their sentence to transfer to an open prison or have a work contract. This means a minimal security perimeter, and they are not confined to a prison cell,” Naço said.

According to him, the proposed changes would make it possible to have one police officer for every 30 or 60 convicts, given the current high costs.

“I propose that if inmates are in a regular security prison and have served 2/3 of their sentence, the evaluation commission should transfer them to a lower-security facility, and from there, they can be transferred to an open prison,” Naço added.
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