Nestled in a small valley, the Bosnian town of Zenica is pretty grim.

Chimney smoke bellowing from a steel plant pollutes the air, and the number of cancer patients doubled between 2002 and 2011.

Couldn’t get worse than that, right?

Imagine you are in a prison in this town.

This past week, Vice Magazine took a look inside the largest incarceration facility in Bosnia, which is located in Zenica. With the enormous pollution problem and a low prison-maintenance budget, you can imagine how terrible life is for the inmates.

Check out some of these scary stories:

• An inmate who was diagnosed with several psychological disorders swallowed a rusty spoon that ripped through the muscles in his stomach to receive medical attention for the tumor on his abdomen. After his request wasn’t granted, the inmate swallowed another spoon.
• Many of the inmates have nicknames based on the objects they’ve used to harm themselves, such as razorblades, scissors and needles.
• An inmate spent a freezing cold night in a tree while his fellow prisoner’s cheered him on below. 
• One inmate, who was jailed for stealing food for his orphaned siblings, was promised a stack of cigars in exchange for sex. He sought legal counsel after he was raped instead. Even though the inmate didn’t receive the cigars, the legal officials “concluded that the sexual act couldn’t qualify as rape because it was part of an agreed transaction of goods.”

Furthermore, the prison guards seem to view escape attempts as “acts of attention seeking.”  Here’s a description from the reporter who visited the prison:

The officers tend to have a pretty shallow understanding of prisoners’ behavior; they receive a minimal amount of training and any instructional sessions they get while on the job are organized sporadically by NGOs. There are also rumors that—as with many other professions in Bosnia’s public sector—you can buy a position as a prison guard. I don’t expect every guard to be an empathetic superhuman with a psychology degree, but clearly this isn’t a situation that attracts the best candidates for the job.

We are aware that prisons are not meant to be 4 star hotels. But how bad is too bad when it comes to a prison’s living conditions? Is this a rightful punishment, or is this a violation of human rights?