By the Hungarian Helsinki Committee
The Hungarian Government’s legislative agenda, dated June 2026, foresees the re-transfer of reformatories to the child protection administration. Following previous amendments initiated under the Orbán Government, supervisory powers over reformatories were transferred to the prison administration, representing a punitive turn in child protection policy.
According to the Government’s legislative agenda dated 9 June 2026, amendments expected to be introduced after the summer to transfer reformatories back to the child protection system. Following legislation that entered into force on 14 May 2026, supervisory powers over reformatories had been transferred to the National Prison Service, including the power to appoint their commanders.
Those institutions are where custodial measures for juvenile offenders, focused on their reintegration through educational measures, as well as pre-trial detention for juveniles, are implemented.
This transfer had been triggered by a nationwide scandal that came to light in 2025 concerning offences against minors, sexual offences, abuse and money laundering at the Budapest Reformatory. By virtue of special legal provisions in force between 2020 and May 2026 granting extended powers to the executive, the Orbán Government then in place decided by decree to transfer supervision of these institutions, without any consultation.
The reform was criticised by professional organisations and child protection experts. In April 2026, policy recommendations were published by Beyond the Walls, an independent civil society working group established at the initiative of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, arguing that children’s safety in closed or semi-closed child protection institutions, including reformatories, cannot be ensured by stricter rules, organisational restructuring or punitive criminal policy alone. The experts instead called for a comprehensive child protection approach based on prevention, needs-based and trauma-informed care, transparency, independent external oversight, and the humane, consistent and professional application of existing safeguards.
The transfer had not been completed before the April parliamentary elections, which resulted in a change of Government. However, after the special legal order enabling governmental rule by decree came to an end, because it was not prolonged by the new Parliament, many special-order decrees affecting the legal system had to be transposed into ordinary legislation for reasons of legal certainty and continuity.
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