Financial Services, Law and Regulations, Legislation, Lithuania, Strike

According to the Prison Department, prisoners mostly oppose that their children are not allowed to attend long-term meetings, that they are prohibited to smoke inside penal institutions and that the maximum amount of cash that may be spent in a prison's shop has been limited.

The Prison Department issued a statement saying that none of the new amendments are intended to worsen conditions for prisoners. None of the European countries allows children to attend long-term meetings, instead short-term ones are allowed where physical contact is not prohibited.

The department also said that prisoners carrying out a sentence in an ordinary group may spend in a shop EUR 114 per month, in a disciplinary group – EUR 76 and in low security groups EUR 152.

The Department notes that currently the minimum monthly wage in Lithuania is EUR 325 and people have to pay all the taxes, utilities, food, etc.

Moreover, a smoking ban only affects 3% of prisoners who are applied additional measures due to poor behaviour. For others smoking is only allowed in a prison yard.