46 Xenakis S., Cheliotis L. specifically, the Greek government has also complained that the CPT has failed to acknowledge the particular pressures on Greece as a major entry-point for irregular migration into the EU [48].4 Notwithstanding these entrenched discourses of denial, Greece has responded at least to problems of overcrowding in conventional prisons – often prompted to do so by prisoner riots (see further [49, 50]) – through partial initiatives, including the construction of extra accommodation at existing sites and a prison-building programme. Between 1994 and 2009, the total certified accommodation in the country’s prisons rose by over 130%. Although during this period the ratio of prisoners to certified accommodation was thereby reduced from 1.76 to 1.28, severe overcrowding continued, especially in certain establishments (such as the male prison of Korydallos; ibid.). This was due to a combination of longer custodial sentences being handed down and limited use of early releases for prisoners, despite crime rates having risen at a significantly lower rate over the same timeframe than would plausibly justify the pace of expansion in the prison population (ibid.). A significantly bolder step, albeit an intentionally temporary one, was taken in April 2015, when the Greek parliament passed a prison reform bill that sought to relieve prison overcrowding through an array of measures, such as limiting the range of imprisonable offences for young people, setting limits to the prolonged detention of foreigners facing deportation after expiry of the custody term set by courts, and, most controversially, relaxing the eligibility criteria for parole, especially but not solely for disabled prisoners. One-day snapshot measurements published by the Greek Ministry of Justice itself indicate that the total prisoner population underwent a notable 18.7% reduction between 1 April 2015 and 1 October 2016, dropping from 11,602 to 9422. This constituted the largest contraction in the prisoner population in over three decades, during which ever-expanding prisoner numbers had rather been the norm [49]. It is difficult to ascertain the precise degree of responsibility that can be attributed to the European human rights regime for such steps (see further [51]: 213). The regime nevertheless received considerable credit for generating the recent reforms when the Greek Minister of Justice spoke out to defend them against domestic critics, explicitly referring to 191 outstanding cases against Greece at the ECtHR over prison conditions and to continuous and expensive convictions of the country by the Court [52]. The overall picture that emerges from inside Greek prisons has remained dire (see, e.g., [53, 54]), however, whilst conditions within immigration detention centres and other sites where irregular migrants are forcefully kept (e.g., police stations and reception centres) have continued to attract widespread infamy internationally (see, e.g., [55]).5 4 Beyond responding to the CPT, Greece has more generally complained in the past that her European counterparts ought to do more to mitigate the disproportionate burden placed on Greece as the principal entrypoint of irregular migrants to the EU and has also suggested that Turkey has facilitated the heavy influx of irregular migrants to the country. 5 A law that passed more recently, in late 2016, entrusted the Greek Ombudsman with the power to investigate cases of alleged abuse by staff in sites of incarceration around the country, with the proclaimed aspiration, at least in part, to promote adherence to the ECHR and ensure implementation of judgments passed on such cases by the ECtHR (see, e.g., [56]). It is too early at the time of writing to ascertain whether, and the degree to which, the new law itself will be applied in practice, let alone to evaluate its effectiveness. Greece’s past record in terms of investing in, or otherwise facilitating, inspection of carceral sites by domestic bodies does not allow much scope for optimism (see, e.g., [44]: 6–7).