Chief prosecutor orders investigation as prisoners and guards at the notoriously overcrowded detention centre are, once again, raising the alarm over the appalling living conditions and ‘the threat of an Ebola outbreak’

Public outrage over new footage broadcast last week showing the horrific conditions at Korydallos, Greece’s main prison and its hospital wing, has prompted supreme court prosecutor Efterpi Koutzamani to order an investigation and the Health Minister Makis Voridis to pledge action.

“It is obviously no hospital. So we are ready to do something about it, to help and support. We will discuss the matter with the justice ministry,” Voridis said.

Guards and prisoners at the detention centre in Athens say that appalling living conditions are putting their lives at risk and are charging authorities with ‘criminal indifference’.

The prisoners, who have been trying to raise awareness through a  twitter account called Kolastirio [Hell hole in free translation] with shocking photos of the conditions at the prison, say they are treated ‘like animals’ in cages.

The prisoners, some of whom have been on a hunger strike since February 16 to protest against ‘the appalling conditions’, also claim there has been a rise in cases of tuberculosis which, in at least one case, has led to death.

Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou and Alternate Health Minister Leonidas Grigorakos, who visited the prison hospital last Wednesday, were reportedly given assurances that everything was being done to prevent the spread of diseases – all HIV + inmates were to be transferred to a single prison wing while five additional medical staff were being sent to the prison.

 

But images posted on the prisoners’ twitter account and footage of the prison hospital, broadcast on Greek TV stations last week, depict scenes more akin to a penal colony rather than a detention centre.

The  ‘shameful’ footage from the prison hospital is causing ‘embarrassment to an entire nation’ and, according to prison guards, the detention centre poses, not only a physical threat to inmates, but a psychological one as well.

“Living conditions are inhumane and the physical and psychological impact on the inmates is more than obvious,” the guards were quoted as saying.
 
Due to overcrowding, prisoners are reportedly piled up in cells measuring 4m2. Disciplinary confinement cells are designed for prisoner stays of up to a few days as a form of punishment, but now are overcrowded with more permanent residents due to a lack of space.

A hospital out of hell

Speaking to Skai TV, one prisoner said, referring to the situation at the Ayios Pavlos hospital wing of the prison, that they feel ‘subhuman’.

“We are like animals, piled on top of each other. And there are sick people here
with TB, others are seropositive. It’s appalling,” one prisoner said.

“If someone contracts ebola from outside and comes to the prison, we’re all going to get it. The hospital has no room left for anyone,” he added.

“If you have cancer, if you have AIDS, they will bring you here from all over Greece. We painted the hospital ourselves to sanitize it a bit, but the cockroaches are living it up”.

Prisoners also complain of a nepotism of sorts, pointing to the treatment of Ilias Kasidiaris, senior member of far right Golden Dawn party, who is currently in prison awaiting a criminal trial .

“There are prisoners who have been waiting for heart surgery for one and a half months. But when it comes to adenoids in Kasidiaris’ nose then he’s out in a jiffy-There is no medical equipment, no medicine”.  

An ongoing disgrace

The maximum security prison has earned a notorious reputation over the years for the inhuman treatment of detainees and overcrowding, with Amnesty International and other human rights bodies such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture repeatedly expressing concern.

However, despite countless pledges by authorities over countless years, for change, nothing has been done.

Korydallos was where the trial in 1975 of the officers involved in the Greek military dictatorship (1967-74) was held.

In 1995, a massive riot broke out with prisoners seizing control of the prison and clashing with guards and police. It is also where members of the November 17 terrorist group are held.