- 87 It is also a matter of concern to the CPT that the recording by prison health care services of
injuries to prisoners did not appear to be guaranteed; as a result the contribution which such services can
make to the prevention of ill-treatment of prisoners was being undermined. The CPT has recommended
that any signs of violence observed when a prisoner is medically screened on admission should be fully
recorded, together with any relevant statements by the prisoner, and that the same approach should be
followed whenever a prisoner is medically examined following a violent episode in prison.
276. The "Prison Hospital" at Korydallos, which catered for prisoners from throughout Greece, was
not a hospital in the real sense; there was not the staff, nor the premises, nor the equipment necessary for
the normal activities of a hospital. The establishment served rather as a care facility for sick prisoners
awaiting their transfer to a proper hospital and as a place for convalescence after hospital treatment.
This situation would not be a particular source of concern if the interface between the Prison
Hospital and the civil hospital system operated satisfactorily. However, the delegation's on-site findings
indicated that the transfer of a prisoner in need of hospital care to a civil hospital could prove
problematic. In this connection, the CPT has emphasised that either the Prison Hospital at Korydallos
should be resourced as a hospital in the true sense of the term or, when appropriate, ready access to
fully-equipped hospital services elsewhere should be guaranteed for patients held there.
277. The CPT is very concerned by the situation found at the Korydallos Psychiatric Unit, which is
the only establishment within the Greek prison system designed to hold mentally-ill prisoners. Although
the Unit accommodated a large number of persons in need of psychiatric care, it possessed neither the
staff nor the physical facilities of a psychiatric hospital. It was a place where mentally ill prisoners or
those displaying behavioural problems were tolerated and controlled; it was not a place where such
prisoners were cared for and offered individualised therapeutic programmes. The CPT has
recommended that the operation of the Psychiatric Unit at Korydallos be the subject of a full review.
Conditions in the so-called "intensive care unit" of the establishment - which in reality was a
place of exclusion for prisoners whose symptoms disturbed the establishment's regime -were
intolerable; the CPT has recommended that this particular facility be taken out of service forthwith.
Further, immediate changes to the arrangements at the Psychiatric Unit for dealing with mentally
disturbed and violent prisoners have been recommended. The existing arrangements involve a clear risk
of ill-treatment.
C.
Psychiatric Institutions
278. The delegation heard no allegations, and gathered no other evidence, of torture relating to the
psychiatric institutions visited. Nor did it receive any allegations or other direct evidence of deliberate
ill-treatment of other kinds while visiting the institutions.
However, various situations were observed in respect of living conditions, care administered and
methods of restraint which were akin to inhuman and degrading treatment and which in some cases
entailed serious hazards to the physical well-being of patients. The cause of these situations can be
largely ascribed to a severe shortage of resources as regards both qualified health-care staff and material
facilities.
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