Korydallos Prison - Conditions of Detention

Conditions of Detention

Amnesty International and other human rights bodies such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture have repeatedly expressed concern about the prison for its overcrowding and inhumane treatment of detainees. In 2007, a special committee composed of physicians of the Division of Health Inspections of the Prefecture of Piraeus and Piraeus Medical Association has reported that the hospital and the mental clinic of the prison operate without even the minimum conditions of hygiene, with aging infrastructure and big shortages in medical and nursing staff. The Hellenic Parliament has vowed to improve conditions. Since May 2008 the women prisoners section has been transferred to Thiva prison complex, following many years of protests and complaints to the government by the Korydallos municipality and inhabitants. Nowadays only one of the three women prison section hosts women under trial. Demolition works have commenced, for the two out of the three sections, on January 2010 and will be completed at the end of June 2010 leaving free space of 10 acres (40,000 m2) to be used as a park.

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