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Albanian Police Quell Revolt at Tirana Prison

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 November 2005, 06:00 CST

Text of unattributed report entitled "Prisoners set prison cells on fire", published by Albanian newspaper Korrieri on 7 November

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Revolt in Prison 302 in Tirana. Some prisoners who had recently been transferred from Prison 313 set their cells on fire late yesterday as a protest for reasons that remain unclear.

It is alleged that difficult living conditions in the prison have led the prisoners to protest by setting on fire everything they had in their cells. Prison 302 is adjacent to Police Commissariat No 3 of the capital and the building of the police charged with protecting the institutions and other important buildings is also nearby. This prison houses prisoners convicted for ordinary crimes, who only a few days ago had to exchange their cells with those remanded in custody for more serious crimes.

While for their part the prisoner-VIP's who were transferred from Prison 302 seem satisfied with their new "home" at number 313, those who had come to replace them in the new residence were unpleasantly surprised by the hard conditions of this prison. On the first day of their transfer they made their grievances known to the prison authorities, but the reply they got was not encouraging. Sources at the General Directorate of Prisons say that their complaints were taken into consideration, with the promise that improvements would be made gradually.

Apparently, this was not enough for the prisoners who yesterday evening, at 2130 hours [2030 gmt] started shouting and hitting their cell doors with anything within their reach, which made the situation within the prison very tense. Then they set fire to everything in their cells.

Unconfirmed sources say that smoke started billowing from the first story of the prison, which is said to have completely burned down. The prison wardens were incapable of coping with the situation, so they called for the Tirana police to come to their rescue. Within a few minutes a considerable force of police surrounded the prison in order to prevent any escape attempts. Then they burst into the prison to suppress the revolt. All the capital's senior police officers rushed to the scene and followed developments from close quarters. The prison police coordinated the operation with the blue uniformed officers.

Until late in the evening no injured were reported on either side, although the intervention of the police within the prison was described as violent by those present at the scene. The same sources say that the situation was almost entirely brought to normal following the intervention of the officers of the General Directorate of Prisons, who conducted negotiations with the prisoners.

A few months ago, a tunnel linking this prison to a flower shop across the street was discovered in this prison. The prosecution said that the tunnel was intended as an escape route for Gazmend Brraka (alias Gaxhaj) and some other prisoners. The tunnel was discovered on 4 March of this year when a section of the prison courtyard gave in.

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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