The plans for the Police detention centers and the detention centers for minors are redefined, depending on the priorities and needs. The Ministry of Justice and Public Order has now decided how it will move until the works for the new prisons in Cyprus begin.
After plans on paper and on the spot, Minister Kostas Fytiris, according to information from "F", made the final decisions on the future of the former immigrant detention centers (HOKAM) in Menogeia and on the juvenile prisons. Thus, the detention centers in Menogeia will be converted into the Central Police Detention Centers that will cover all districts except Paphos, while Paphos due to the distance will continue to have its own. Already, a relevant letter has been sent to the Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, for the conversion of the Migrant Detention Facility in Menogeia as the main detention center for suspects and undertrials for the purposes of police investigations and awaiting their trial.
The detention centers in Menogeia can accommodate up to 180 people, so it is expected that a huge problem will be solved with the police detention centers in Police Stations, in which a lot of problems are recorded, with violation of the rights of the prisoners and the suffering of the police officers. Prisoners, as "F" recently revealed, sleep on the floor, do not go out in the yard, sleep on dirty mattresses, which poses risks to their safety and that of the staff.
With this change, the police officers at the Stations will be relieved of the duties of guarding suspects-undertrials and even convicts. The problem is finding police officers to staff the Central Detention Center, but it seems that this is being overcome. The big bet is to immediately carry out the improvement works in the detention centers so that they are able to accommodate people who are referred to detention, under humane conditions.
At the same time, the plans do not stop here, since there seems to be an outcome for juvenile prisons. The original plans were to be created in Menogeia, however, due to the small number of convicts (around 10-20) space would be wasted, so the decision was changed. After a study, it was decided, according to information from "F", that the juvenile detention area should be created around the Central Prison, but not within the complex. This is because the Committee against Torture of the Council of Europe does not want minors in the same place as adult convicts for obvious reasons.
The space has been found and in order to avoid delay, properly designed prefabricated houses will be placed, as was the case with the open prison. Procedures are underway for the current juvenile prisoners to leave Special 8, the wing in which they are currently within the closed prison complex.
Today in police detention centers there are more than 200 people who are deprived of their liberty in bad conditions, while the situation is aggravated by the inmates who are "sent" from prisons due to lack of space in them. It is for this reason that the Ministry of Justice is bringing back the issue of confinement of some undertrials under electronic surveillance in their homes. A relevant bill is being processed so that it can return to Parliament for discussion.
