The Justice Ministry of Slovakia is considering to develop and upgrade prisons through public private partnership (PPP) projects.

According to the Justice Minister of Slovakia, Tomáš Borec, the Ministry has already prepared a feasibility study to develop a new prison in Rimavská Sobota through a PPP project.

Prisons in Slovakia are currently fully owned and operated by the state. The prison system is administered by the Slovak General Directorate of the Prison and Court Guard Corps falling under the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic.

As of 2010, Slovakia had 18 correctional institutions capable of holding about 9 500 inmates. Of these, five are devoted to pre-trial detainees, nine for sentenced prisoners, and four for a combination of sentenced prisoners and pre-trial detainees. According to sources, current occupancy level of the Slovak prison system is 94%.

Last week we reported that the Slovak Health Ministry received proposals from seven bidders to develop a new university hospital in Bratislava (NUHB) through a PPP project. The new 880-bed hospital will be the the first PPP project in Slovakia's public health system. The total project investment is estimated between €200 and €250 million.