The purpose of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty in Greek prisons and by the Hellenic Police. The visit was an opportunity to review the progress made by the authorities in implementing the Committee’s recommendations in relation to prison matters since its previous visits in 2019 and 2021 and following high-level meetings on prison reform in 2022 and 2023. The delegation paid particular attention to the measures taken by the Greek authorities to tackle the systemic issues of overcrowding and chronic shortages of prison staff, which – if they remain unaddressed – would seriously undermine the functioning of prisons. To this end, it visited nine prison establishments, including the two prisons for women, and several police stations in various regions of the country.
In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Michalis Chrisochoidis, Minister of Citizen Protection and Andreas Nikolakopoulos, Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection. It also held extensive exchanges with Panayotis Stathis, Secretary General for Public Order and Aristos Perris, Secretary General for Anti-Crime Policy, together with senior officials of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, the Hellenic Police and the Ministry of Health.
Further, the delegation met Andreas Pottakis, the Greek Ombudsman, and staff of the National Preventive Mechanism of his Office, members and staff of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, as well as with professionals active in areas of concern to the CPT.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary findings to the Greek authorities.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT: Karin Rowhani-Wimmer (Head of Delegation), Eleana Fitidou, Răzvan Horaţiu Radu, Elsa Bára Traustadóttir, and Gunda Wössner. They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd, Executive Secretary of the CPT, Aikaterini Lazana and Sebastian Rietz of the CPT Secretariat. In addition, they were assisted by four experts: Pétur Hauksson, psychiatrist, former Head of the Psychiatric Department at Reykjalundur Rehabilitation Centre (Iceland), Martin Lomas, Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons in England and Wales (United Kingdom), Dino Vukanovic, medical doctor at Tolmezzo Prison and Gradisca Pre-removal detention centre (CPR) (Italy), and Olivera Vulić, psychiatrist, former Chief of the Centre for Mental Health in Podgorica (Montenegro).
The delegation visited the following establishments of deprivation of liberty:
Prison establishments
- Alikarnassos Prison (Heraklion)
- Chalkida Prison
- Chania Prison
- Korydallos Women’s Prison
- Korydallos Prison Complex (targeted visits to the Men’s Prison, the Prison Health Centre and the Prison Psychiatric Hospital)
- Malandrino Prison
- Nafplion Prison
- Patras Prison
- Thiva Women’s Prison
Police establishments
- Acharnon Police Station (Athens)
- Aghios Panteleimonas Police Station (Athens)
- Alexandras Street Police Headquarters (Athens)
- Chalkida Police Station
- Chania Police Headquarters
- Exarcheia Police Station (Athens)
- Heraklion Police Headquarters
- Omonia Police Station (Athens)
- 1st Patras Police Station
- 2nd Patras Police Station