Filenews 7 December 2025 - by Michalis Chatzivasilis
One was murdered after a bomb attack, the house of a second was blown up, a third ended up in prison, while a fourth is being prosecuted for serious crimes. We are talking about the directors of the Central Prisons, most of the 18 who passed through the Central Prisons since 1960, left badly, either resigned or were expelled.
The chair of the Director of Prisons turns out to be more than electric, since very few managed to leave upon their retirement. The latest resignation of the Deputy Director of Prisons, Konstantinos Konstantinidis, seals the rule: How is it easier for someone to leave prison in a hurry than at the end of their term. Of course, we are talking about prisons, where the director has to deal with systematic criminals, drug dealers, murderers who want to be the "heads" of the prison.
In addition to the prisoners, whose management is not the easiest thing, the respective directors also had to deal with the staff with their captains or the few corrupt ones who did enormous damage, but also an imponderable factor: An obsolete prison, overcrowded with 50% being foreigners. This bleak picture has always made the prison at the center of the news.
The first director of the Central Prisons, in 1960, was Onisiforos Ioannou, who remained in the post for 10 years. He was succeeded by Costas Christou, who was also the longest-serving director, since he remained in his position until 1984, after being extended for a year. Shortly after his retirement, unknown persons killed him by trapping him with a bomb in his vehicle. The third director of prisons was Iakovos Iakovidis, who remained in his position until his retirement in 1990. At some point, unknown persons had planted a bomb outside his house, while he was suspended due to the escape of Andreas Aristodimos Youroukkis, when M. Kostas Papakostas, then commander of MMAD, took over for a very short time. At that time, prisons were entering a prolonged turbulent period with riots, clashes in the wings, etc.
Mr Iakovidis was succeeded in the early 1990s by the criminologist and academic Andros Kapardis, who came from distant Australia to bring a new air to prisons. Dr. Kapardis attempted to introduce a new philosophy in the way prisons operate, something that apparently was not accepted mainly by the high-ranking staff, resulting in an extremely tense atmosphere. He resigned and returned back to Melbourne on his university duties. In the meantime, until the position was filled, Theodoros Petasis, who was also the most senior officer of the prison, took over temporary duties.
Subsequently, on 1/8/1990, Giorgos Anastasiadis was appointed as director, who came from the public service, who remained until 30/11/1999 when he retired. During his tenure, the prisons spent a relatively quiet 10 years, changes were made in the way prisoners were treated.
He was succeeded by the criminologist Haris Themistocleous, who attempted to introduce his own way of managing prisons and largely succeeded. However, he broke with the Ministry of Justice and was forced to resign, two and a half years after taking over. He took over on 21/12/1999 and resigned on 13/6/2002.
For a short period of time, four months, Spyros Efstathiou, a prison officer, took over the reins of the Prison as deputy director, to be succeeded on 2/10/2002 by the Police officer Panikos Kyriakou, who remained in the position until 1/11/2004 when he retired.
In the cell by director
On 22/11/2004 the also criminologist Michalis Hatzidimitriou took over the management of the Prisons and on 8/10/2007 his appointment was canceled and the reins of the Central Prison were taken over by another from the ranks of the Police, the officer Christos Mavris. Mr. Mavris remained until 20/11/2007 when Mr. Hatzidimitriou returned after winning his appeal, who was appointed retroactively from 17/4/2006. On 18/12/2008 Mr. Hatzidimitriou was suspended and the Prisons were going through perhaps their most turbulent period. His suspension lasted until 2/5/2009 and then on 23/4/2009 his appointment was cancelled again as of 17/4/2006. On 7/5/2009 he was reappointed retroactively, while on 13/5/2009 he was suspended again until 11/8/2009.
A criminal case was being examined against Mr. Hatzidimitriou due to the escape of Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, who, while he was being treated at the Apollonio Hospital, was found in Stasikratous and was even involved in shootings with YKAN. At that time, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Kypros Chrysostomidis, resigned for reasons of sensitivity, while the Chief of Police, Iakovos Papakostas, had resigned. Mr. Hatzidimitriou returned to prison on 22/2/2012 no longer as a director, but as a prisoner, after being sentenced to two months in prison on charges of neglect of official duty and abuse of power. At the same time, the Public Service Commission imposed on him the penalty of forced retirement, as of 11.11.2014. He had essentially paid the price of the actions of the Police. And while these were in progress, in the meantime that Mr. Hatzidimitriou was suspended, Police Officer A' Christos Mavris returned to prison on 19/2/2008 as deputy director, who remained in the position until 2/3/2009.
Tryphonides era and suicides
On 2/3/2009 the management of the Prisons was taken over as deputy director, again coming from the Police, by police officer Giorgos Tryfonidis. Due to the climate that prevailed in the prisons after the events with Mr. Hatzidimitriou, the penitentiary went from a dark period to a series of suicides. Mr. Tryfonidis wanted to impose a new philosophy with stricter measures on the prisoners who reacted in various ways. The culmination was three suicide attempts, five suicides and the rape of a young Romanian. The then President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, visiting the prisoner in the hospital who was raped, made harsh statements and on 14/1/2014 Mr. Tryfonidis resigned and returned to the Police. From January 2014 until October, Eleni Vatyliotou, a senior prison officer, performed the duties of deputy director until she retired voluntarily.
The change of prison with Anna
On October 14, 2014, the Public Service Commission proceeded with the appointment of Police Officer B', Anna Aristotelous, to the position of deputy director of the Central Prisons, following the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, Ionas Nikolaou. With her, the senior officer Athena Demetriou, also from the ranks of the Police, went to the prisons.
The prisons made a 180-degree turn. From suicides we went through a human-centered model, where for perhaps the first time the prisoner was treated as a person with human rights. The strict measures for prisoners were replaced by skype, glass in meetings between prisoners and their relatives was abolished, and even in a Netflix series the Cypriot prisons "starred", as the opposite side of the "hard" prisons abroad. It is no coincidence that the prisoners called the director "Mamma Anna". Her stay, however, was marked by the murder of a prisoner, the insertion of phones into the cells, the clash with the Police over the delayed investigations, etc.
After more than eight years in the position, Mrs. Aristotelous was moved after her complaint against the then commander of YKAN Michalis Katsounotos and after she had received a leave of absence of a total of six months. Her complaints along with those of Ms. Demetriou were examined by a criminal investigator who found the officer responsible, but the Attorney General decided not to prosecute him. Mrs. Aristotelous, with the election of Christodoulidis to the Presidency, took over on 2/6/2023 as head of humanitarian issues, trapped and missing, while at the same time holding the position of Director of Prisons. Three years later, he is prosecuted along with seven others for the prison documents found in the house of a chief warden.
She was succeeded on 3/6/2023 by Police Officer Ioannis Kapnoulas as deputy director, who resigned on 8/2/2024 and was replaced by Police Officer A' Charalambos Filippidis with his appointment expiring on June 2, 2026. Mr. Filippidis was removed from the position after the escape of the hairdresser for life. He was replaced by Konstantinos Konstantinidis again coming from the Police who quit last Tuesday. The position was temporarily taken over by the senior Prison Officer Maria Shiali, while the position has been advertised.
