II. FACTS FOUND DURING THE VISIT AND ACTION PROPOSED A. Prison establishments 1. Preliminary remarks 8. In its report on the November/December 2021 visit, the CPT described the current state of the prison system in Greece and set out the main challenges that needed to be addressed. In particular, it highlighted that the two overarching problems of overcrowding and chronic shortage of staff compounded the many additional shortcomings in the prisons visited. These included very poor material conditions, lack of hygiene, the absence of an appropriate regime, high levels of inter-prisoner violence and intimidation as well as insufficient and inadequate medical care in prisons. The report also referenced a highly targeted visit to the Korydallos Psychiatric Hospital for prisoners to follow-up on the recent deaths of a number of patients therein, including an apparent suicide by hanging of a patient. The visit had revealed an institution which had been so neglected that it appeared unable to provide appropriate care to its patients. The focus of the 2022 visit was to undertake a full examination of the situation in the hospital. 9. The situation in the prisons has not significantly changed during the 11 months between CPT visits. At the time of the November 2022 visit, the prison population stood at 10,717 for a capacity of 10,175 places4 (that is, a prison occupancy rate of 105%). However, the distribution of prisoners across the prison estate, and even within individual prison establishments, means that overcrowding is far more severe than indicated by the figure of 105%, as is borne out in the monthly prison statistics issued by the Ministry of Citizen Protection. 10. On 28 October 2022, the new Prison Law (Law 4985/2022) entered into force, which amends and updates the provisions of the 1999 Prison Law. One of the new provisions concerns the broadening of criteria for persons in prison to be transferred to rural prisons, which continue to operate at only 20 to 50% of their capacity. Importantly, Article 6a of the Law now provides for a domestic remedy for persons in prison who are held in conditions of detention which violate the provisions of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Greek authorities referred both in their meetings with the CPT and in their response to the report on the 2021 visit to their continuing efforts to promote non-custodial measures in the period before the imposition of a sentence and increasing the use of alternatives to imprisonment. Further, the CPT has been informed about the plans to upgrade the existing prison infrastructure by constructing four new prisons with 600 places each. Further, the 600 place Drama Prison is expected to become operational in early 2023. In addition, the Government has begun the development of a new 2 800 place Judicial Complex in the Aspropyrgos area of Athens which is intended to replace the Korydallos Prison Complex. 11. As pointed out in the report on the 2021 visit, the CPT considers that constructing new prisons is not likely, in itself, to provide a lasting solution to the problem of overcrowding. Further, the CPT also wishes to reiterate that it has serious misgivings about the construction of very large prison complexes, which have historically proven difficult to manage and unable to deliver the targeted services required of the various population groups within them. The design of the various components of the complex and the management structure will be essential to avoid possible negative implications for day-to-day contact between prisoners and staff, opportunities for the delivery of a purposeful regime and prisoners’ contact with the outside world. 4. Calculated according to 4m2 of living space per person. 5