Conditions in Bulgarian prisons are degrading, shows a report of the Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee.

The information from the report was presented by the deputy Justice Minister Dimitar Bongalov at a conference in the town of Bankia. Bulgaria will need ten years to cover the European standards in this area, Bongalov added.

According to the report conditions in the country's prisons are humiliating to prisoners and Bulgaria has to work to improve them in a three-month period. One of the major problems in prisons is that they are overpopulated.

"Poor prison conditions may lead to 2 400 potential complaints against Bulgaria in the Court of human Rights", Bongalov said.

The prison with the most prisoners is the one in Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. There 11 000 people are currently serving their sentences there in a 25 000 square metres area which means one square meter personal space per prisoner.

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