NICOSIA prison is investigating ways to step-up employee security outside working hours, in the wake of three bomb attacks on prison staff in 48 hours.
The prison said they could neither confirm nor deny a proposal to arm security guards 24 hours a day against threats to their personal security.
According to Phileleftheros newspaper, four guards had asked to be armed all day, every day. Guards currently carry weapons only while they are on the job.
But security sources told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that if the idea ever materialised, then there would be no question of stopping at just four guards.
Security staff rotate around the prison: there is no specific number of officers who work in the maximum security wing.
A recent US State Department report criticised the prison for not segregating dangerous criminals from minor offenders.
Prison governor Harilaos Themistocleous told the Cyprus Mail that he shared staff concerns about personal security, following the bomb explosions earlier this week.
Ministers and President Glafcos Clerides have also expressed anxiety about the attacks.
Themistocleous met Justice Minister Nicos Koshis to discuss staff security on Thursday afternoon. No concrete proposals were agreed upon.
“We will discuss it again and we will put, in writing, the protection measures we want for our members,” said Themistocleous.
The prison, however, dismissed media reports that prison officers would be police-trained in matters of personal security. They said they were capable of training their own staff.
Bombers exploded a device on the balcony of a former chief prison warden on Tuesday. On Saturday a bomb went off under a car of a current prison warden.
Investigations are underway to determine whether any inmates were linked to the crimes.
In reference to the State Department report, Themistocleous pointed out that European prisons did not always segregate long-term and short-term prisoners.
“The US is entitled to its own opinion, but it doesn’t necessary reflect opinion in Europe. As a criminologist, I don’t disagree 100 per cent, but I don’t like blanket criticism,” he said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
