- 23 In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation was informed by prison management of the rule that prisoners who are prescribed psychotropic medication are deemed unfit to work. Such a rule has no medical justification and not only deprives certain prisoners from working to gain remission from their sentences but, as the delegation learned, may also lead them to stop taking their medication with negative implications for their well-being as well as posing the prison management further challenges. The CPT recommends that such a rule be rescinded. 36. In all the prisons visited, the management attempted to create as many “jobs” as possible. It should be noted that most of the jobs entailed only a few hours of work per day. Thus, at Nigrita Prison, there were 365 workers (for a population of 719) including 220 cleaners, 35 kitchen staff, 39 cafe and supermarket workers, 9 assistant nurses, 8 barbers, 8 painters, 13 messengers and some prisoners working on maintaining the establishment. A similar situation was observed in the other prisons28 visited although at Korydallos Men’s Prison the proportion of prisoners offered jobs was far lower.29 Apart from specialist jobs (e.g. electrician, plumber), work was allocated on a ‘first come first serve’ basis without any assessment of a prisoner’s needs. Prisoners would usually be granted work for three months at a time after which they would have to wait approximately six months or more before they were offered another job. Inmates who had received a disciplinary sanction were not eligible for work for a certain period (usually six months to one year). Only a few jobs (kitchen, skilled prison maintenance work) could be carried out for longer periods. 37. The promotion of “Second chance schools” in some of the prisons visited represents a positive development for offering prisoners with a school education. At Corfu Prison, 27 persons were enrolled in two classes and attended the school each weekday morning for three hours; given the lack of activities in the prison it was surprising that not all of the 34 available places were filled. At Korydallos Men’s Prison, 111 persons were enrolled in primary and secondary school and 12 in university courses, with another 19 persons undertaking a Greek language course. However, there were more than 650 applications for primary and secondary school but due to the limited space and a lack of teachers, numbers were severely restricted.30 At Nigrita Prison, 97 persons from 18 different nationalities were attending the school three hours every morning from Monday to Friday, with the courses provided by five full-time State teachers and three part-time teachers funded by extrabudgetary resources. Every day of attendance at school counts as two days served of the prison sentence. 28 29 30 At Corfu Prison, 110 out of 237 prisoners had a job (notably, 81 cleaners, 10 kitchen staff, 6 maintenance, 7 storekeepers); Chios Prison, 90 workplaces had been created but at the time of the visit only 55 out of 103 prisoners had a job while at Kos Prison, all 80 workplaces for 97 detained persons were filled (notably 26 cleaners, 9 kitchen staff and 20 persons involved in maintenance or working as an electrician, plumber, painter etc.) which was inventive for a prison with an official capacity of 56 persons. At Korydallos Men’s Prison, the prison had created 624 work positions but at the time of the visit only 405 positions were filled (notably, 160 cleaners, 19 office worker assistants, 33 kitchen staff, 25 assistant nurses, 25 maintenance workers, 12 painters, 15 electricians and 22 canteen workers) for a population of 1,885 prisoners. For example, the Arts School, in which 80 persons were enrolled, was closed as there was no teacher.