- 44 70.
The lack of staff and the inability and/or unwillingness of prison directors to challenge
stronger groups of prisoners mean that a culture of impunity persists in the prisons. No proper
investigations are made into cases where prisoners are attacked by other prisoners. For example:
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at Corinth Prison, a prisoner was severely beaten by two other prisoners during a two-hourperiod. The director was provided with the names of the perpetrators by a witness, but the
only action taken was to move the victim to another wing and for the prosecutor to give a
talking to the remaining prisoners and stating that all inter-prisoner violence had to end. The
perpetrators were never held to account in this case despite the fact that, reportedly, one of
them had also broken the nose of another prisoner a couple of months before;
at Corinth Prison, on 11 March 2015, a prisoner who beat another inmate and attempted to
extort money from him was not held to account (despite a medical certificate having been
drawn up attesting to the nature of the injuries);
at Nafplio Prison, on 16 May 2014, an inmate was punched and hit with a metal rod by two
other prisoners which resulted in his hospitalisation at Argos Hospital. The two perpetrators
received no disciplinary sanction and no criminal investigation was initiated, apparently
because the victim had forgiven them;
at Nafplio Prison, on 13 December 2014, two prisoners who attacked another inmate which
resulted in him being hospitalised for three days with lesions to his upper body and head
were not disciplined and no criminal investigation was initiated.
The findings of the delegation show that the behaviour of prisoners was not being addressed.
Instead, transfer to another establishment was the only measure being applied at times by prison
directors; this approach needs to change urgently. It is essential that prisons do not become places
of impunity.
Moreover, incidents of inter-prisoner violence were not diligently recorded in the
incident/trauma register in the prisons visited, notably Korydallos Men’s, Nafplio and Thessaloniki
Prisons (see also paragraph 84 for the recording of injuries).
The CPT recommends that any injury indicative of inter-prisoner violence be
immediately brought to the attention of the competent prosecutor and properly investigated.
Further, every incident of inter-prisoner violence should be diligently recorded in the relevant
registers.
3.
Conditions of detention
71.
Once again, the CPT’s delegation found that the living conditions in the prisons visited were
generally very poor. The provisions of the 1999 Greek Prison Law are simply no longer adhered to
with regard to standards of accommodation and norms for a safe environment, including health care
and hygiene, to be provided to each prisoner. Some of the conditions encountered, notably at
Korydallos Prison Hospital and at Nafplio Prison, can easily be considered as amounting to
inhuman and degrading treatment.
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