A 35-YEAR-OLD transvestite is camping out in the theatre of Nicosia Central Prison, because officials can’t decide where to house the male convict who prefers to be known as Alexia.
Marios Angelodimou, alias Alexia, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Limassol court on Tuesday for fraud.
Alexia and Paphos resident Emilios Ambousides were found guilty of possession and circulation of forged bank documents and securing credit by false pretences.
As the first convicted transvestite in a Cyprus jail, prison authorities are baffled over where to accommodate Alexia, who behaves and looks like a woman, but is still legally a man.
Governor Harilaos Themistocleous thinks that putting a man who dresses and behaves like a woman in a wing with 60 to 80 sexually deprived male convicts is asking for trouble.
“She can have her own room, but that’s not enough. How can she go into a wing with 60 to 80 other men, when she feels and acts like a woman?” he said, pointing out that bathroom and toilet facilities were communal.
Alexia wants to live in the women’s wing, but then there is the risk that she could also suffer abuse from female inmates.
With nearly 20 prisoners, but a normal population closer to 10, the women’s wing is generally quieter than its male counterpart.
But while Themistocleous deliberates the advice from specialists, Alexia is currently being detained in the theatre.
The transvestite’s only contact has been with prison staff, with Alexia eating alone. Although the theatre is in the men’s wing, Alexia’s presence has not yet elicited any adverse reactions from fellow inmates.
A shower has been set up especially for the prisoner, who has exactly the same facilities as the others, despite enjoying a slightly more grandiose cell.
“We’re trying to make her as comfortable as possible until a permanent solution can be found,” Themistocleous told the Cyprus Mail.
“The media think it’s a joke, but it’s a humanitarian issue. I want to make a decision to benefit everyone, but especially Alexia,” he added.
The governor will assess the actual level of danger and discomfort Alexia is liable to face living alongside members of her birth and adopted sex.
He is expected to make a decision today or on Monday.
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.
