On Thursday, June 4, the Cabinet of Ministers will consider a proposal by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to revise the start date for the construction of the new Liepāja Prison, moving it forward by one year from what was originally planned — starting construction as early as 2021. In the MoJ’s view, in the context of COVID-19, this initiative is currently justified by several factors important to the justice sector and the national economy as a whole, with the aim of stimulating economic processes by implementing the reform of places of detention and sentence enforcement more quickly, thereby reducing recidivism rates and, in turn, reducing the workload and costs of law enforcement structures for crime investigation and prisoner transport. Moreover, implementing the project will not create any additional costs to the state budget this year or next.
“In the context of Covid-19, every ministry must now seek short-term and long-term solutions to support and stimulate the economy. That is why the new Liepāja Prison is a critically important project for the state as a whole. Naturally, safety is the primary concern – the safety of residents, prison staff, visitors, service providers, and the inmates themselves – but economic considerations are equally significant. The current situation dictates the need to review and reassess the implementation of major state procurements, which is one of the tools for stimulating economic processes,” emphasizes Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns.
As a result of the construction, EUR 30-50 million will return to the state budget in the form of taxes in the coming years alone, not counting the positive economic and social effects in the future that will result from implementing the reform of places of detention, which is not possible without appropriate infrastructure. After the new prison is commissioned, state budget spending on maintaining the old infrastructure, which the state invests in every year to guarantee public safety, will decrease significantly.
“This is an infrastructure facility significant for public safety, and its design is already at a high stage of readiness. That is why, in our view, now is the right time to return to the possibility of accelerating the start of Liepāja Prison construction by a year – the economy needs immediate investment, especially in the regions, to promote economic activity and employment in both construction and related sectors,” notes J. Bordāns.
Latvia currently has nine places of detention, six of which are housed in buildings more than 118 years old; moreover, none of the buildings was constructed specifically for prison purposes but has instead been adapted accordingly. The buildings and infrastructure are physically and technologically outdated. By contrast, since 1991 Estonia has successfully implemented a reform of places of detention, closing all 12 old-type prisons and building 3 completely new prisons meeting international requirements in their place. It should be noted that the discussion on prison construction in Latvia has already been ongoing for at least 12 years.
The design of the new Liepāja Prison envisages several innovative technical solutions, such as high-durability anti-vandal equipment, as well as a special layout and equipment of the prison’s territory and premises that will eliminate the possibility of contact between inmates during their movement, and will also ensure increased inmate monitoring and visibility of the territory, which has not previously been available in Latvia’s prison infrastructure but is already an objectively justified requirement when planning investment in new prison construction elsewhere in Europe. Accordingly, implementing a project of this scale, creating infrastructure that meets modern requirements, will enable more effective enforcement of sentences – successful resocialization of inmates to promote the return of convicted persons to society, thereby reducing repeat offending.
If the Ministry of Justice’s proposal is supported, then when re-launching the procurement (open competition), the design&build, or “design and build,” method is again planned to be used, combining changes to the building design, author’s supervision, and construction within a single procurement, in order to avoid possible additional costs during construction and to ensure quality execution of construction works, requiring the winner to take full responsibility for implementing the project’s construction. At the same time, in order to promote competition by significantly broadening the pool of bidders and thereby reducing the total project costs, the procurement is planned to be divided into 2 parts, where the first part covers construction works for which the contractor does not need an Industrial Security Certificate, while the second part covers construction works for which the contractor will need an Industrial Security Certificate. A procurement (open competition) for construction supervision services will likewise be organized again.
Work on the construction of the new Liepāja Prison will begin in 2021 and could be completed by October 30, 2024. The Ministry of Justice states that the total project costs, including design, construction, construction supervision, necessary equipment, and taxes, will not exceed the EUR 146 898 298 previously set in the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision on the construction of Liepāja Prison.
Given that the funds invested in the share capital of the project implementer – VAS “Tiesu namu aģentūra” – are available, the Ministry of Justice believes that, by a government decision, these funds could be allocated to finance the construction of the new Liepāja Prison and the necessary project activities in 2020 and 2021. In this case, no funds from the state budget are needed to implement the project in 2020 and 2021.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Liepāja Prison is designed for 1200 inmates. The whole complex comprises 8 different buildings. The total territory area is 305 116 m², the total built-up area is 64 053,7 m², the total floor area is 51 092 m². The complex will be located 5,6 km from the center of Liepāja. One of the main factors in designing the prison was the safety of both inmates and staff. The prison complex includes inmate residential blocks. The new prison will provide for inmate resocialization and employment opportunities, with a large employment center providing work opportunities for inmates, as well as a place for inmate training.
The Ministry of Justice has delegated implementation and supervision of the construction process to VAS “Tiesu namu aģentūra”, which provides and organizes the procurement. The technical requirements needed for the prison’s construction, meanwhile, were formulated at working group meetings attended by representatives of the Prison Administration, the Ministry of Justice, and VAS “Tiesu namu aģentūra”.