During communism, professional unions and youth organizations distributed vacation camp passes to employees and school students. There was a big fight for a camp pass, for a beach cabin, or for a few days of vacation in Durrës, Shëngjin or Razëm. There was also corruption, of course. With the value and possibilities of time.
Generation Z and those who come after it do not know this story. But the Socialist Party deputies, who are making a name for themselves by ordering the transfer of Erion Veliaj from Durrës prison to Fier, know it very well. In fact, some of them may have been on the committees that distributed the camp sheets!
However, there is a small historical misunderstanding here and another, slightly larger, institutional one.
Prison transfer orders are not vacation camp passes!
People don't go to prison for vacation, but to suffer the restriction of freedom, according to a court decision. Even a transfer from one prison to another is not a change of tourist destination.
Undoubtedly, every isolated person has the right to be informed of orders that affect his rights, to know the reasons for the transfer and to challenge them according to the law. There is no need for parliamentary intervention for this. There is law, procedures and institutions that must be implemented.
In fact, a very simple question arises here: well, Erion Veliaj has MPs who are interested in his transfer order, but who has parliamentary patronage over the other prisoners?!
The prison administration constantly transfers people from one institution to another, for reasons related to their requests, security needs, treatment conditions or the administration of the system and undoubtedly with the requests of prosecutors for detainees. For each of the isolated in prisons the administration bears full responsibility. Not only for those who have friends in Parliament.
Here, with parliamentary interest in this case, the real political problem begins.
The MP was not elected to provide the best prison for his acquaintance. He was elected to ensure that all prisons meet the same legal standards.
Otherwise, what are we discussing?! That the Durrës prison is better than the one in Fier?! That we need a camp sheet for Durrës, Shëngjin, Theth, or Razëm?!
For the sake of truth, Fier prison is among the institutions with the best infrastructural conditions we have today. But even if it wasn't, the MP's concern should have been improving conditions in Fier, not securing a place in Durrës for a certain person.
The standard of treatment in prison cannot depend on the political weight of the prisoner, nor on the number of MPs who are interested in him.
What I don't understand is the silence of these parliamentarians about the serious problems of justice. About the delays in trials, about the long and unjustified detentions, about the standards of evidence and about the quality of judicial decision-making.
There is no major concern about these. But why is a person transferred from Durrës to Fier, suddenly a parliamentary emergency is revealed!
Hello, hello!
And the irony is that the MPs, who have the power to change laws and control the standards of the system, are behaving as if they only have the power to distribute campaign leaflets.
To me, this behavior seems completely out of touch with reality. Or, to be a little more sympathetic, perhaps it is an expression of political dissatisfaction with their party and government, which they do not know where to turn.
Because, if the problem is justice, let them talk about justice. If the problem is prisons, let them talk about all the prisons they administer themselves. If the problem is the legality of transferring inmates, let them demand the implementation of the law for everyone. Not just for those they know or have political debts to.
If the problem is simply that an acquaintance of theirs should stay in Durrës and not in Fier, then we are still stuck with the old mentality of the camps. But with a small difference: in the past, places were allocated for vacations. Today, preferences are also being sought for places of deprivation of liberty…