Poor social network causing prisoners re-offend

EX-PRISONERS are re-offending to get back into to jail because of harsh conditions preventing them from integrating in Cyprus society after being released, the House Crime Committee heard yesterday.

The measures for ex-convicts’ reinstatement in society are humiliating, said DISY deputy Ionas Nicolaou during the meeting, stressing that after being released, many have difficulties finding employment and housing. He added that prisoners are forced into re-offending to return to prison.

According to Nicolaou, someone who leaves prison is offered the measly sum of £30 to £40 by the state. However, to apply for some of the Welfare Department’s employment programmes, time-consuming procedures are demanded, making it impossible for an ex-convict to survive.

He added that there are voluntary organisations that offer help to this section of society, but there are currently no state departments occupied with the matter.

DISY’s Tasos Mitsopoulos referred to the example of a father who was in prison for many years and was also infected with AIDS. Upon his release he was alienated from his family, social and working environment.

He stressed that support systems needed to be implemented by the state to help convicts who have been released.

But the Chairman of the Committee, Costas Papacostas of AKEL, said it wasn’t all bad, as he referred to the example of a man who went to prison without any education or expertise, and learnt to be a carpenter and so when he was released he managed to find work and now he owns his own business and a respectable place 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.