A housing estate for guards, built entirely by prisoners, has been completed in the 10th district of Budapest, Kőbánya, Magyar Nemzet reported. The newspaper wrote a year ago that the Hungarian Prison Service is building the housing estate as part of a model project.
The tour was attended by Bence Rétvári, Parliamentary Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior, who said that in the context of the energy crisis, the model project is very important. “With its housing program, the Ministry of the Interior is setting an example of how the state, with a well-organized back office operation, can create a housing program that can offer families – for example, as a service dwelling – a sixty-square-meter, comfortable, low-maintenance, low-impact, fully green dwelling with minimal environmental impact,” he said.
Bence Rétvári (left) and Brigadier General Tamás Farsang at one of the newly-built houses.
Using the pre-fabricated elements, the 17 houses were completed on site in three months, with solar panels and a heat pump system in some of them, which can reduce the houses’ external energy needs to almost zero.
The Secretary of State also said that the interior design of the houses is modern, practical and fully in line with today’s needs. “A living room with an American kitchen, a children’s room and an adult bedroom, as well as a small garden, it provides comfortable living conditions for a family.”
Brigadier General Tamás Farsang also took part in the site visit, where he said that the need to improve housing conditions is particularly acute in Budapest, which is why the first 17 houses were completed there. However, there are plans to extend the program nationwide later. He said that the service housing estates were important not only for staff retention but also for recruitment.
Inmates in the project have contributed thousands of hours of work to the construction of a green belt housing estate, which will serve as a new home for prison staff and their families.
Featured photos via MTI/Illyés Tibor