Filenews 3 September 2025 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
The operation of the children's detention facility in Mennogeia is on its way to a postponement, since the project depends on the course of the Limnes Pre-Removal Center, to which the foreigners currently detained in the Mennogeia Aliens Detention Center (HOKAM) will be moved.
The Minister of Justice, Marios Hartsiotis, and the Commissioner for the Protection of Children's Rights, Despo Michaelidou, visited the site yesterday, where they saw on the ground the infrastructure and what needs to be changed in order to make it child-friendly. A meeting of the two had preceded a demonstration of the architectural plans on how the space will be shaped after the movement of the migrants. According to the extension given in 2024 by the Parliament, juvenile prisons should have been ready to operate on 1/1/2026. The relevant law on friendly justice for children, which conflicts with the law that provided, among other things, for juvenile prisons, was passed in 2021.
As Commissioner Despo Michaelidou told "F", initially, she had some reservations about the model that was being promoted regarding the management of the space and its operation by a private individual. She had sent her suggestions to Parliament and a relevant video of juvenile prisons in Ireland that did not resemble a place of detention at all, but a place of education and entertainment, in which children lived. However, after the model it changed and the construction and operation of the space was given to the state. On the basis of regulations of the Ministry of Justice voted by the Parliament, the implementation schedules were accelerated since, as we are informed, no community wanted juvenile prisons on its premises, nor childcare facilities, nor detention facilities for foreigners. That is why the model that initially envisaged the construction by a private investor of juvenile prisons outside Nicosia, was abandoned since no one would allow its construction under its jurisdiction.
Subsequently, it was decided that the prisons for children are operated by the state, which is why by decision of the Council of Ministers, following a proposal by the Ministry of Justice, it was decided on 4/9/2024 to transform the Mennogeia Aliens Detention Center (HOKAM) into a children's detention center and at the same time to become the detention centers for minors of the Police in the same area. The responsibility for the care of the children will be the Central Prisons, the entire area will be the Police, the officers who will have contact with the children will come from the wider public sector and only the management will be given to the private sector.
Mrs. Michaelides, who closely inspected the premises, told us that she expressed some reservations today, mainly regarding the barbed wire that exists, as well as about the whole building that resembles prisons. According to her, she asked for the barbed wire to be removed and the railings raised, while the spaces to be painted in such a way that the space does not resemble prisons. She expressed her satisfaction with the dimensions of the cells, the configuration of the spaces and especially for the outdoor areas where the children will be while they are serving their sentence. There will be an entertainment room, a classroom, a psychologists' room, a doctor's office, a classroom with instructors and a space for internet use.
It is noted that at the moment five minor children are being detained in a special wing in the Central Prison.
It all depends on the projects in the Lakes
The current detention centers of Mennogeia were expected to be moved in August this year to the Limnes Pre-Removal Center, which is being built nearby. It is the largest Pre-Removal Center in Europe, since it will have a capacity of 1,100 foreigners.
However, the project in Limnes is delayed in its delivery and as we are informed it will be delivered to the Deputy Ministry of Migration around December 2025 to January 2026. The conversion of HOKAM into a children's detention center will be assigned to Public Works and according to estimates, the projects will be completed around the summer of 2026. With these data, which are not related to the procedures followed by the Ministry of Justice, but to external factors, the milestone of 1/1/2026 cannot apply.
Hartsiotis: The role of reform
According to the philosophy of the law passed in 2021, criminal prosecution and detention of the child is the measure of last resort and applies only in very serious cases and/or if any other alternative measures have been tried and failed.
In exceptional cases where criminal prosecution of a child is promoted, cases are now heard by special children's courts, which have been established since May 2021. These courts may impose alternative sentences to detention, such as a reprimand, fine on the child or parents, supervision, community work for children over the age of 16, referral to a day centre or a treatment centre.
According to the Minister of Justice, Marios Hartsiotis, the punishment of children who manifest delinquent behaviour is not an end in itself, but the provision of help and support to them by experts, so that they understand the reasons that led them to this behaviour, the consequences of their act and find ways to get rid of it and not repeat it in the future.
"Detention is the last option," he stressed, adding that even if a child is sentenced to prison, the child will be detained in a special detention facility outside prisons, which will have a reformative, pedagogical, therapeutic and welfare character.
