Justice Minister Konstantinos Fytriris on Saturday announced immediate steps aimed at relieving overcrowding at the Central Prisons, improving inmates’ living conditions and upgrading supervision and control, following his meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides.
Earlier on Saturday morning, Fytriris visited the Central Prisons to be briefed on the circumstances surrounding the death of a young foreign national serving a prison sentence.
According to a statement by the ministry, after touring the facilities, the minister received briefings from both the prison administration and police on the preliminary findings of the investigations into the inmate’s death. He instructed that the investigations be completed swiftly in order to fully clarify the circumstances under which the detainee died.
The minister subsequently met with President Christodoulides, whom he informed about the death of the convicted prisoner and, more broadly, about the overall situation at the Central Prisons.
Long-standing Problems
Fytriris assured the President of his determination to proceed with rapid, substantive and comprehensive interventions, in addition to measures already taken, to address long-standing problems at the Central Prisons.
The ministry stressed that its priority is the adoption of immediate, medium-term and long-term measures focusing on the decongestion of the prison system, the improvement of inmates’ living conditions and the enhancement of supervision and control.
The stated objective is to put an end to unlawful and criminal behaviour within the correctional institution, which must operate in full respect of the rule of law and of international and national legal frameworks governing the protection of the human rights of convicted prisoners, remand prisoners and detainees in general, as well as those of administrative and security staff.