THE HOUSE Human Rights Committee yesterday censured the government for its continued indifference to the needs of prison inmates suffering from mental problems.
In his opening speech, the Chairman of the Committee DIKO deputy Aristos Chrysostomou, said the government had ignored two reports by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which had stressed the need for an improvement in the health services provided to inmates.
The European Committee, first in 1993 and then in 1996, had visited the prison in Nicosia and pointed out that inmates suffering from psychological problems should be held and treated in special installations staffed with qualified personnel on a 24-hour basis.
Crysostomou listed a series of proposals, suggestions, even legislation, which he said were completely ignored by the government. This meant the handful of specialised personnel visiting the prison were overwhelmed and therefore unable effectively to treat the inmates, he said.
But although Chrysostomou stressed that government services were passing the buck over the issue, discussion kicked off with Health Minister Frixos Savvides and Justice Minister Nicos Koshis doing exactly that.
Savvides said there should be a special building that would house inmates suffering from problems, but revealed there was a disagreement between the ministries on the location of the installation.
Discussion went on and on, with the exchange of views on where it would be best to build the centre but with no one making any concrete suggestions.
Savvides said, however, that his ministry was ready to provide all the staff necessary whenever the centre was up and running.
AKEL deputy Eleni Mavrou told Savvides that the committee had been give assurances that construction of the centre was already under way somewhere within the prison compound.
Savvides conceded that the plans had been for the centre to be built in the prison, but they had changed after it emerged it would not be the best place.
But according to Cyprus Mail sources, the two ministries have agreed to build the centre inside the prison, a point not mentioned to the committee.
Instead, Koshis suggested to the committee that he and Savvides be given until the end of April to discuss the matter and come back with suggestions.
He added that his ministry had no objection to building the centre in the Nicosia prison.
DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides said that current standard practice was to send everyone to prison, even those that the courts had found to be insane.
The committee heard there was only one psychiatrist in the prison and he only treated inmates once a week.
Psychiatrist Louis Kariolou said there were around 85 Cypriots and 60 foreigners that needed treatment and it was quite impossible to do anything effective.
Christina Peta, a psychologist who works with inmates, said it was impossible to help them.
She said she saw six inmates per day and that she worked with around 100 to 150 who needed psychological support in coping with incarceration.
“Prison affects them all, including their families; if we don’t help them not to return to prison, the state will be paying for them indefinitely,” she said.
Peta said inmates suffered from a variety of psychological problems depending on the time they had to spend in prison.
She revealed that those doing life – 12 in total – had no motivation whatsoever.
“How do we help them?” Peta said.
She told the committee about an inmate who didn’t know how to tell his child he was going to die in prison.
Cyprus legislation provides that people convicted for life should serve life.
Koshis agreed that the life sentence should be looked into, but told the committee that another major problem faced by inmates was society itself, which scorned them.
He said that not many people were keen to hire former convicts, adding: “whatever we do for them they’ll still feel like strangers out in society”.
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.
