- 42 67. At the end of the April 2015 visit, the CPT’s delegation communicated its concerns to the Minister of Justice citing the situation in Korydallos Men’s Prison, where wings of some 350 to 400 prisoners are staffed by only one or, at best, two custodial officers. These prison officers essentially act as “turnkeys”, spending much of their time locking and unlocking the wing gates for the constant flow of individual prisoners attending or returning from services in other parts of the establishment. When speaking with the delegation they complained that they were suffering from burn-out, often working 14 days in a row, and they recognised that they were not in control of the prisoners. They clearly stated that they had no idea of what was going on in the wings and that they could not intervene when there was an incident or a fight. At lock-up, two officers would be responsible for transferring the 350 or more inmates from the yard and corridors into some 120 cells; the sense of vulnerability and the fear of being overwhelmed at any moment placed a great strain on these officers. The prison only “functioned” due to the fact that the officers were assisted by trusted prisoners who were essentially carrying out prison officer duties, such as receiving all requests for exiting a wing and recording which prisoners left and entered the wing. In such conditions, it is difficult to see how one or even two prison officers can be expected to know what is happening within a wing, let alone keep control. Regrettably, the explosive situation within the wings burst out once again in an open battle on 3 May 2015 when groups of Albanian and Pakistani inmates reportedly fought each other in Wing C. It ended with two prisoners being killed and 21 requiring hospitalisation. This is not the first serious incident to occur. On 29 December 2014, five prisoners required medical treatment following a fight and on 15 September 2013, a large scale fight resulted in 21 inmates requiring treatment in the prison hospital and another 10 being transferred to external hospitals with severe, even life-threatening, injuries. The CPT is seriously concerned that despite the gravity of the situation little or no action appears to have been taken to investigate the underlying causes of the violence or to put in place a strategy to prevent similar episodes of violence breaking out. On the contrary, the policy of simply warehousing various groups of inmates continues, the effect of which can be likened to a boiling cauldron left to simmer away with violent eruptions every few months. 68. Korydallos Men’s Prison may be an extreme example but it is by no means unique. In other prisons, a similar scenario persists. At Nafplio Prison, for example, within the wings there was a clear hierarchy of stronger groups of prisoners, and inmates who did not follow the internal order would be intimidated or beaten. Moreover, while there were several recent incidents of prisoners having been stabbed and beaten which had been recorded,47 the delegation’s findings point to many more incidents going unreported. A primary problem is the evident understaffing in the establishment (11 officers on duty during the day for 510 to 600 prisoners) with one or two officers overseeing each of the three wings. Staff spent little time in the accommodation areas and prisoners were left to fend for themselves. It is interesting to note in this context that the nurse and Deputy Director of the Prison had never been inside the accommodation areas as they were advised by prison officers that it was unsafe. Not surprisingly, prisoners had no trust in the management to resolve questions of intimidation and violence. 47 For example, a large-scale fight among Albanian prisoners on 18 February 2015 had resulted in three of them receiving multiple stab wounds.