Filenews 12 June 2023
The Minister of Justice Anna Koukkidis Prokopiou is promoting an immediate response to the problem of overcrowding in Central Prisons. On Thursday, a proposal for the immediate transformation of the open prison area into a closed prison area and the transfer of the open prison to another space is being submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval.
As the minister mentioned in the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights that discussed the issue of detention conditions in Central Prisons, with the aim of immediately addressing the problem of prison overcrowding, the wing of the open prison with a capacity of 220 people will be converted into a closed prison area. At the same time, the open prison, which currently houses around 25 people, will be transferred to another place.
As the Commission has been told, while prisons have a capacity of 600 people, today they host around 1000, with many problems, both for the safety and rights of prisoners and prison guards.
At the same time, the Minister said that they are examining with the Ministry of Transport and public works, the issue of creating new prisons, while there is also a proposal from the private sector for the construction of prisons.
Regarding prison staffing, the Minister said that approval was secured for 50 prison guard positions, when they will be ready with the premises, while taking into account the requests of the prison guards' unions, they disconnected the prison guards' examinations from the general examinations in the public service and now a separate procedure will be carried out.
At the same time, he referred to training programs that are already running successfully in prisons and to discussions taking place with the Ministry of Health and the Authority for the Treatment of Addictions on rehabilitation issues in prisons, as well as rehabilitations of those involved in sexual offenses and cooperation with OEB for reintegration purposes after release.
Koukkidi-Prokopiou also said that after discussions with experts from the Council of Europe (CoE), a proposal came to have an independent observatory for prisons, which will examine the requests of prisoners and relatives, but will also be able to make representations to the Ministry, which will follow. He also noted that an effort will be made to revise anachronistic prison regulations that are not in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
CNA
