- 41 88. The CPT recognises that investing in new prisons may be necessary both to increase capacity as well as to replace prisons which do not serve the stated purpose of holding inmates in a secure and safe environment64. However, the building of additional accommodation is unlikely, in itself, to provide a lasting solution to the problem of overcrowding. The experience of other European countries illustrates the difficulty of attempting to resolve overcrowding solely through increasing capacity. By contrast, the promotion of policies to limit and/or modulate the number of persons being sent to prison has tended to be an important element in maintaining the prison population at a manageable level. The Minister of Justice announced in November 2009 his intention to propose legislation to limit the use of remand custody to serious offences. The CPT welcomes such measures to limit the use of pre-trial custody through amending the criminal legislation; efforts should also be made to reduce the time spent in prison pending trial. The Committee has also noted that measures adopted in December 2008 and July 2009 have resulted in some 1,500 persons being released early from prison. These measures were adopted as an ad hoc response to a critical situation following widespread disturbances in Greek prisons in late 2008; however, they did not address the structural deficiencies. Further, to gain legitimacy, the implementation of early release must be seen to be fair and transparent by prisoners; at the time of the 2009 visit, prisoners did not perceive this to be the case. There is also scope for an increased use of alternatives to imprisonment, particularly for short sentences, through enhancing greater public (and judicial) confidence in such measures as electronic surveillance and community-based programmes. The CPT calls upon the Greek authorities to pursue fresh approaches towards eradicating overcrowding as a chronic feature of the prison system, in the light of the above remarks. 89. Overcrowding is not the only problem afflicting the prison system. The CPT was once again deeply concerned by the unsuitable material conditions, the absence of any appropriate regime and the poor provision of health care. Further, due to the totally inadequate staffing levels, effective control within the accommodation areas of the prisons visited had been ceded in many instances to prisoners. Further, there is an absence of any communication between the prison administration and inmates about their rights in prison. Prison directors appeared helpless and, with one exception, even defeatist in the face of the task of managing their establishments. It appeared to the CPT’s delegation that a regulated prison system, as aspired to in the Prison Law, had given way to a policy of warehousing prisoners, mirroring the approach taken towards irregular migrants. Discussions with the prison administration in Athens seemed only to revolve around a “virtual prison”; the delegation’s interlocutors appeared to be disconnected from the actual situation in the country’s prison establishments. 64 As set out in the 1999 Prison Law (N° 2776).