The former warden of Kvíabryggja prison has been found guilty of fraud and embezzlement, and was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Geirmundur Vilhjálmsson, during his time as warden, Vísir reports, fixed prison books to hide some 600,000 ISK from view. He had also sold a car the prison owned for 250,000 ISK and was accused of having pocketed the money himself. Geirmundur claimed he had simply put the money aside, with the purpose of later buying rabbits and sheep for the prison grounds. Geirmundur also made use of the prison’s credit card to buy personal effects for himself.
The decision of West Iceland District Court stated, among other things, that prison employees and even the prisoners themselves had free and unsupervised access to property owned by the prison, thus showing neglect on the part of the warden.
In total, RÚV reports that Geirmundur had embezzled about 1.7 million ISK from the prison. However, the court took into consideration the fact that he had never before been convicted of a punishable crime, and has paid back 900,000 ISK of what he took. He was therefore sentenced to eight months in prison, five of which will be probationary.
In the photo: Hegningarhús, one of Reykjavík’s jails.
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