Sremska Mitrovica prison Sremska Mitrovica prison ( Serbian : Казнено - поправни завод у Сремској Митровици / " Kazneno - popravni zavod u Sremskoj Mitrovici " ) is the biggest prison in Serbia , consisting of two facilities . It is situated in Sremska Mitrovica , Vojvodina province . History . Foundation and early history . It was formed by the order of Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph between 1895 and 1899 . From 1918 to 1941 , it functioned under administration of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after 1944 under administration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . Yugoslav wars period . During Yugoslav wars , some Croatian prisoners of war were kept in this prison . The main prison facility ; the largest known in Serbia , was open from November 1991 to August 1992 and was a scene where many prisoners were tortured , abuse d and raped . At least 25 prisoners were killed in front of witnesses , but the actual number is believed to be much higher . International organizations collected detailed information from reports , inspections and survivors regarding Sremska Mitrovica prison . One of the two facilities making up the prison is " Sremska Mitrovica - " Fruška Gora " " , which was a secondary location where an unknown number of detainees were kept . Information on this facility is very scarce and most of the reports by international institutions focuses on the primary facility . The primary facility was the " Penal Correctional Facility " ( " Kazneno Popravni Dom " - KPD for short ) which was primarily a civilian rehabilitation center for civilians . The facility was located in the center of Sremska Mitrovica and was an old brick building surrounded by four meter high walls with barbed wire . The main building was two stories high and 60 – 70 meters long and 8 meters wide . The building was composed of multiple pavilions with rooms of varying sizes . Along with these rooms , there were also solitary confinement cells and segregation cells of unknown purpose . The basement of the building was used for torture of prisoners . During the 1991 - 1995 War in Croatia , the Croatian city of Vukovar was captured by JNA and Serb paramilitary forces on November 18 following a three - month siege . While Croats surrendered under the agreement that the civilians from Vukovar would be allowed to go free , the JNA did not honor this agreement , and held the remaining Croatian military personnel and captured civilians in custody . Among the civilians , a large number of medical personnel from Vukovar ' s main hospital were also arrested , which was where many of the survivors in Vukovar took refuge . Among the prisoners was Dr . Vesna Bosanac , chief of medical staff at Vukovar . The remaining prisoners were transported to Sremska Mitrovica ( which is only 75 kilometers southeast of Vukovar ) over the next few days , and the KPD ( the prison ) was now expanded for this purpose . This was the first of several large groups transferred to the prison . On the way to KPD , buses full of prisoners were often stopped , so that Serbian reservists guarding the prisoners could take some of them out and kill them . Later , other groups would be transferred to the KPD from other locations in Croatia and Serbia . Later , during December , civilians wounded in the Lovas minefield massacre were also brought to the KPD . As the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted in 1992 , Bosniak prisoners were also brought to the camp , but Croats remained a majority of war prisoners there ( since Bosnian Serbs opened concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina to hold Bosniaks there ) . The majority of the war prisoners were from Vukovar ( army and police ) and Muslim and Croatian POWs from Bosanski Šamac ( BiH ) . Along with them , there was at least one American , Ruthenian , a Slovenian woman and several Albanians . Serbs from Vukovar , who refused to collaborate with Serb forces were also detained , along with one JNA soldier . Since the facility was a primarily civilian prison , the KPD was also populated by civilian criminals who were also encouraged by the guards to participate in the abuse . Some of them raped female prisoners . The number of non - Serb war prisoners at the facility is reported to be between 3 , 000 and 4 , 000 after the fall of Vukovar . More prisoners were transferred in and out of the facility to other locations ( Stajićevo , Niš , etc . ) , and some were executed , making an exact figure unknown . Many prisoners were also released for prisoner exchanges . The Yugoslav Army ( JNA ) was in charge of the prison , although Serb paramilitary units ( known as being particularly brutal ) and local Serb civilians were also among the guards . Several survivors described the brutality they survived at the hands of the paramilitaries , assessing that if they were in charge , everyone would have been killed . The commander of the guards at the KPD was nicknamed KOS ( acronym for Yugoslav counter intelligence agency ) by the prisoners , while the guards referred to him by a code name . He has personally participated in the beating of prisoners . He is believed to be a JNA Captain . The guards were a wide collection of JNA reservists , military police , paramilitaries and local Serb civilians who sometimes came to the camp simply to abuse and beat up the prisoners . Five prison guards ( aged 18 – 20 ) were JNA privates in KPD for military training . They regularly tortured the inmates and killed at least 18 prisoners . Four Serbs from Vukovar knew some of the prisoners and inflicted the worst beatings and torture and were brought into interrogations of the prisoners . Two of them were called " executioners " by the prisoners . In January or February 1992 , some of the original guards were replaced by 18 to 20 year - olds who increased the frequency and severity of the beatings . The guards were again replaced in March , following Red Cross requests , and food was improved . Following reports on the prison , " International Committee of the Red Cross " ( ICRC ) first visited the detention facility on December 2 , 1991 . ICRC registered the detainees it could ( many were hidden away ) and monitored their treatment . The prison guard went to some trouble to cover up the abuse . For the first two months , the Red Cross was not allowed access . Once they were allowed , they were banned from certain areas where heavily abused prisoners were moved . The ICRC sent inspectors there every month , which improved the conditions for a short time . Prisoners who complained to the ICRC over their treatment were later beaten severely . Most women were released following news of ICRC inspection . Upon arrival , the prisoners were forced to undress and strip - searched . All their belongings were confiscated , and anything valuable was never returned . The prisoners were put in rooms with wooden floors and no beds . Nearly 100 prisoners were situated in rooms between 50 and 92 square meters , which forced some prisoners to stand so that others could sleep . In such conditions , no one was able lie down on their backs . Wounded and sick were held among the general population and were denied medical treatment unless absolutely necessary . Since a number of hospital staff was also held , they tended to the wounded prisoners , but were denied medication and equipment . Many wounded died because of this treatment . Cold water was available , but the detainees had no soap , towels , toilet paper or detergent . Some of these were later provided , but were always scarce . Consequently , hygiene was non - existent . For months , the prisoners weren ' t able to shave or wash and became infested with lice , upon which they were sprayed with insecticide by the guards . The prisoners were given soap and toilet paper only when the Commission came to inspect the camp - but these were taken away the moment the inspection ended . After two and a half months , the prisoners were finally allowed to bathe due to ICRC pressure , which occurred only during inspections . During the night , a strong light was constantly on , preventing prisoners from sleeping easily . The prisoners were fed food they described as " terrible " and " horrible " and the portions were inadequate . Most prisoners lost weight , some up to 30 kg . Some were not fed at all for the first two days after their surrender . Prisoners were sometimes forced to eat unplucked chicken and never received any fruit or vegetables . Of the three daily meals , only one was hot . According to one prisoner , the guards always fed the prisoners one slice of bread short in order to cause friction among the inmates . For a full month and a half , the prisoners were not taken out into the fresh air . After that , they were forced to work in the fields , clean sewers and do other hard labor until exhaustion . Immediately upon arrival to the prison , male prisoners would be offloaded and " run a gauntlet " - i . e . run into the prison along a line of guards beating them with clubs , truncheon s , axe handles , black jack s or simply hands and legs . At least 84 women were held after the fall of Vukovar and more were transferred there later . Most of them were separated , transferred to other locations and eventually released . Prisoners were beaten severely on a regular basis . Several were beaten so powerfully that they suffered from permanent body harm . Some were beaten until they passed out from the pain . A common practice was beating prisoners on the soles of their feet . The prisoners were ordered to stand with bowed heads and hands behind their backs whenever guards entered the room . They were forced to stand or sit like this for hours at a time . Guards would sometimes pick a prisoner for " not lowering his head low enough " for beating . Sometimes the guards would line up the detainees against a wall and beat every second or third in the line . Prisoners were beaten more severely each time Croatia had an important success ( such as international recognition or successful military action ) . A group of 180 Croatian soldiers from Vukovar was isolated in pavilion three and was treated worse than other prisoners . They were beaten with iron rods on their feet and in the groin and kidney areas . Along with torture , the detainees were abused verbally and psychologically - a regular practice were mock execution s : leading a prisoner to be " shot " by a firing squad and then returning him to the prison . Some prisoners were held in solitary confinement cells for two to five days where they were physically abused and forced to listen to Chetnik songs for days on end . While the beatings of those in confinement could not be seen by other prisoners , they were heard and the victims had to be dragged out , as some could not even walk for seven to ten days after solitary confinement . One prisoner was held for four months in solitary confinement . JNA officers , along with various soldiers , held interrogation sessions with the prisoners , which continued constantly . Many prisoners were beaten to extract confessions to false admittance of their " crimes " . The brutality towards the prisoners was selective : some were not harmed , while others were beaten indiscriminately . Some prisoners were given statements to read aloud for cameras . These films were later shown on Serbian television . Many were charged with crimes and sent to Belgrade for trial . They would be charged with armed insurrection or genocide based on statements extracted from the prisoners during beatings . Sometimes , the guards would hold a mock trial and beat the accused . One such was found dead the morning after the " trial " . An unknown number of prisoners were beaten to death . According to one survivor , two prisoners in the same room died due to beatings and were left to lie there for 20 hours with the other prisoners . Other prisoners also speak of prisoners being beaten or tortured to death . According to the U . S . Department of State ' s declassified materials , at least 18 prisoners were tortured to death . Another survivor claims that people were killed , but not in front of witnesses , while at least two others said they witnessed at least two deaths . Some prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement cells and never returned . Throughout 1992 , prisoners were regularly exchanged . On August 7 , 1992 , an agreement was reached between Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panić and Croatian Prime Minister Franjo Gregurić in Budapest for a mass exchange of prisoners . About 500 prisoners from the KPD were to be exchanged at Nemetin , near Osijek . During the ride towards their destination , many were mistreated . On August 14 , approximately 1500 prisoners from both sides were exchanged . The prison reportedly did no longer kept war prisoners after August 13 . Some of the inmates survived for nine months in the prison . According to the " Croatian Society of Serb Concentration Camp Inmates " ( HDLSKL ) , 8 , 000 Croats went through Serbian prison facilities , 300 of whom never returned . The Sremska Mitrovica prison was prominently mentioned in ICTY trials to Slobodan Milošević and Veselin Šljivančanin , as many survivors testified there . Following the democratic changes in Serbia , the prison function was also expanded to hold Serb war criminal s from the wars in Croatia and Bosnia .