English
An inspection in the Stip prison found that guards were helping a prisoner recover a package of drugs that was thrown over the wall.
The bizarre case was revealed by Aleksandar Pandov, head of the sanctions bureau. It happened in mid February, when a vehicle was allowed to enter the prison grounds without being registered by the guards. A man in the vehicle threw a ball over the wall into the prisoners’ area, and a well known extortionist detained in Stip came to recover the ball. But since he couldn’t find it, he called up one of the guards to help him.
A guard invited four other guards who proceeded to search for the ball with flashlights. Only the next day did the warden realize what was happening, and the ball was recovered – along with the 35 grams of cocaine in it. “When the warden asked the guards what were they doing, they told him that the prisoner was playing with a dog and lost a valuable watch, so they were helping him find it”, Pandov said.
A disciplinary commission was set up, but three of its five members voted to find the guards not guilty – insisting that their “the dog stole my watch” story is plausible. Pandov said that this is an example of rampant corruption in the prisons in Macedonia. “The guards are literally working with the prisoners. It is a difficult problem to root out, but we are going to do it”, Pandov added.
