Prisons Are Full While Alternatives Sit Unused: Why Judges Don’t Reach for Them
Prisons in Idrizovo, Stip and Prilep are over capacity while alternative measures remain below their potential, according to the “360 Degrees” program; the Administration for Execution of Sanctions previously said more than 900 people are already under probation measures.
The “360 Degrees” program on MRT 1 on October 8 stressed that the prisons in Idrizovo, Stip and Prilep are over capacity while alternative measures remain below their potential. The program’s announcement says judges do not use the alternatives to prison enough. Exact figures on population and capacity were not published in the announcement, so we cite here only those made public earlier.
Last autumn the director of the Administration for Execution of Sanctions, Aleksandar Pandov, said more than 900 people are under probation measures and that the system has capacity for significantly more. According to him, 430 convicts have A treatment and another 330–340 have B2 treatment, and most of them, he believes, could receive conditional release. More than 100 requests to terminate probation had been filed, most often for failing to follow recommendations. Pandov also claimed that one convict costs about €1,000 a month.
That is the logic of the debate: if prison is expensive and overfull while probation has free space, the question is why that space is not being filled. The answer is not only with judges — probation officers, supervision and trust that the measure will be observed are also needed. Until that is solved, “full” and “unused” will keep standing in the same sentence.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 9, 2026
