Filenews 21 October 2021 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
The population in the Central Prisons is increasing dramatically, resulting in convicts sleeping in an entertainment area, while at the same time the procedures for extra beds and mattresses were initiated to meet the needs. The suffocating situation that brings additional problems to prisons has worsened since last July, when the convictions of Congolese immigrants for possession of false or genuine travel documents belonging to other persons began.
According to data cited yesterday in the Committee of Lawyers of the House by the director of prisons, Anna Aristotelous, while the capacity of the cells is for 424 people, at the moment there are 763 people incarcerated. Characteristic of the situation is that only for yesterday, 17 other migrants from Congo were transferred to the Central Prison from Paphos who were arrested while attempting to leave the airport, or were convicted by a court. At the moment in prisons, as Mrs Aristotelous mentioned in "F", there are 167 prisoners from Congo who are serving prison sentences of up to 10 months. In order to accommodate these people and serve their sentences, the prisons were forced to close an entertainment area of a ward to be converted into a living space. At the same time, procedures were initiated to launch tenders for the purchase of additional beds and mattresses. It should be noted that the convicts include a 27-year-old pregnant woman.
According to international practice, in other countries, administrative measures are taken in other countries for such cases, since the offence to which these persons are committed stems from illegal immigration.
Moreover, the overcrowding of prisons violates the standards set by the Council of Europe for every prisoner to have a bed, an office and a storage area. The administration of the Central Prisons insists that it is not a solution to imprison these people, nor is there a prison program for those who are imprisoned for trying to leave Cyprus by illegal means, stressing that in any case, in the end, these people will be deported from Cyprus. The procedure followed, it is pointed out, burdens the system and disrupts the proper functioning of prisons, while each convict costs at least €100 per day to the state (food, clothing and medical care costs).
Yesterday, the chairman of the Committee of Lawyers of the Parliament, Nikos Tornaritis, said that the issue with the imprisonment of these persons should be considered, as there are international treaties under which illegal entry is not necessarily a criminal offense.
