Tamašunienė proposes reprimand for prison service chief

Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė has declined to say whether she trusts Lithuanian Prison Service director Mindaugas Kairys, while criticizing his decisions on prison reform and proposing that he be reprimanded, LRT reported Wednesday.

“I gave [Kairys] a great deal of trust. He had previously been viewed controversially, and I thought we would be able to reach an agreement and work together. But we see that the head of the Lithuanian Prison Service imagines he is the minister for prisons and makes decisions himself,” Tamašunienė told the ELTA news agency.

The minister said she disagreed with Kairys’s approach to reforming the penal system. She criticized the transfer of officers from the Security unit to the Resocialization unit against their wishes, saying four officers had submitted requests to leave the service.

Tamašunienė is proposing a reprimand for Kairys based on an internal investigation. Its findings say he violated the Statute of Internal Service and other legislation by abolishing positions at Kaunas Prison and not complying with the minister’s order to reverse the decision. The government will decide whether to issue the reprimand.

In July, Tamašunienė said trade unions had reported that the transfers were being carried out by force. She said she had urged Kairys to reverse his decisions, but he had not done so.

Kairys has previously received two disciplinary penalties. The government issued him a reprimand on July 9 last year and a severe reprimand on July 16, following proposals by then Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus. Investigations at the time found violations involving the use of service funds and the rules governing official vehicles.

Mockus later proposed dismissing Kairys, but Kairys was granted whistleblower status, which prevents a person from being dismissed. The Special Investigation Service has opened a pretrial investigation into possible unlawful influence on Kairys. Delfi has reported, citing unnamed sources, that the investigation concerns Mockus’s actions and that Kairys may have recorded a conversation with him and provided it to law enforcement.

Kairys was appointed deputy director of the Prison Service in March 2023 and became its director in May 2024.