82 European Journal of Criminology 18(1) 250 200 150 100 50 Remand Imprisonment Imprisonment under conviction 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998 1996 1994 1992 1990 1988 1986 1984 1982 1980 1978 1976 1974 0 Imprisonment (Total) Figure 1. Annual incidence rate (caseload per 100,000) of imprisonment in Greece, 1974–2014. Source of primary data: National Statistical Service of Greece, Statistical Yearbook and Justice Statistics. Note: The data were compiled and analysed by the authors. Before the Left: Imprisonment before Syriza in power By the time that Syriza was on the verge of assuming office as the senior partner in a coalition government in January 2015, the use of imprisonment in Greece had undergone a long-term rise. The caseload of convicted and remand prisoners had increased by 120.5 percent over the previous three decades, from 9114 (or 92 per 100,000 inhabitants) in 1985 to 20,099 (or 184 per 100,000 inhabitants) in 2014, rising especially sharply from 2000 onwards.2 The overall growth of the prisoner caseload had been reflective of a rise in the caseload specifically of convicted prisoners, and particularly of those amongst them serving longer sentences (see Figure 1). Equally importantly, however, it was foreigners who had borne the brunt in this regard. From 1996, when relevant data were first made available, to 2014, the caseload of non-Greek convicts rose by a spectacular 288.3 percent, from 2253 to 8750, with the proportion of nonGreeks in the country’s caseload of convicted prisoners coming to exceed that of Greeks themselves, rising from 25.3 to 55.0 percent. Leaving aside immigrationrelated convictions, the above trends are to be explained by reference to reforms that increased sentence severity and restricted parole eligibility, combined with intensified