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Victoria Mindova

Greek prison guards started 24-hour repeated labour strikes requesting that the conditions in institutions for imprisonment be improved. "The greatest issues that have remained unresolved for years are related to the overcrowding of the prisons, security and lack of staff," said the Secretary General of the Federation of Correctional Personnel in Greece, Spiros Karakitsos, exclusively for GRReporter. During the strike of the guards all transfers of prisoners from one place to another will be postponed and all visits will be stopped.

"The problems that exist in our industry are many and they are mainly of an institutional and financial nature", explained the unionist. Over the years, Greek prisons have become too small for the needs of the country, and with the deepening of the crisis the state also cut the salaries of their employees, having in mind that night shifts have not been paid for months. Karakitsos explained that Greek prisons have a total of about eight thousand places for serving time for convictions from misdemeanours such as possession of drugs and to the most serious ones such as murders. In spite of this, prisoners currently exceed 12 thousand, and four institutions for imprisonment have refused to accept the new convicts.

Prison staff explained that overcrowding of the prisons exceeding their capacity is extremely dangerous and can lead to dramatic consequences in the case of a riot or brawl. Controlling of the detainees is further complicated by the reduction of the staff who are guards. "In prisons, as happens throughout the public sector, the rule requiring that for every ten retired or dismissed employees one person is appointed, is applied."

The paradox in Greek prisons is further deepened by the fact that in the country there are four new infrastructures already built and ready for opening in Nigrita, Serres, Drama and Chania, which, however can not start to operate because staff cannot be recruited. Budget limitations do not allow the state to open the new infrastructures and thus those incarcerated continue to be sent to the old prisons.

A survey on the state of Greek prisons indicates that about 4,500 people or 35% of those incarcerated have been imprisoned for misdemeanours. We are talking mainly about possession of drugs in small quantities, drug abuse or small thefts. According to the specialists these are people who are mentally ill and need treatment.

In early 2012 forty-four prisoners who were serving sentences in the prison in Ioannina filed a complaint against the conditions in which they must serve their sentences. They challenge the capacity of the Greek prison and claim that it has the capacity to "accommodate" 80 people, not 220 as it is doing in reality. In their complaint to the European Court the detainees described the extremely difficult conditions in which they are forced to live. For more than 18 hours a day they are held in a small enclosed space without ventilation, in which they have available less than two square metres per person. Prisoners are placed to sleep in the hallways because the cells are full. Even the prison officials acknowledge that if they had to take more people they would have to accommodate them to sleep in the toilets.

Spiros Karakitsos explained that the union organization is in constant touch with the Ministry of Justice. Last year, it prepared a bill for the pardoning of prisoners with convictions for possession of small quantities of drugs and their use, but the project was not accepted. "As a result, at present around 400 of the 12,500 prisoners in the country will be released, which is a temporary solution and does not really solve the problem". Karakitsos insists that the government must take action and put into operation the already finished but unused new buildings in northern Greece in order to alleviate the current situation. The union will continue its successive 24-hour strikes until their demands for improved conditions and for the payment of their wages for night shifts are met.