THE Ombudswoman’s office will soon be able to monitor the treatment and living conditions of criminal and political detainees under extended powers, due to be approved today.
The change comes under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which Cyprus has signed but not yet ratified.
Today the plenum is expected to pass legislation ratifying the convention.
If it passes, the Ombudswoman will acquire the right to visit prisons, detention centers and psychiatric wards to determine whether inmates or patients are being humanely treated.
No official body is currently charged with this task.
“The visits would be on regular basis … but random checks may also be carried out,” Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou told the Cyprus Mail.
“The inspections will be of a precautionary nature,” she added.
The checks are to cover criminals, asylum seekers and wards of psychiatric institutions.
Nicolaou said also that she was currently studying two separate complaints lodged by Cypriot nationals claiming to have been tortured while under police arrest.
Meanwhile the House Criminal Affairs sub-committee heard yesterday that approximately that half of prison inmates are repeat offenders.
In 2006, 203 out of a total of 430 convicts were repeat inmates; currently 61 inmates are repeat offenders.
Deputies examining the data called for a drastic reform of the penitentiary system.
DISY deputy Ionas Nicolaou said, for example, that a ratio of two guards for every 120 inmates was “inconceivable”.
He said plans were afoot to hire 72 additional prison guards on a temporary basis, but was quick to point out that this alone would not solve the problem of security.
Other ideas include a controversial proposal to beef up security by installing an electronics system that shuts down mobile phones within the prison compound, and reinforcing barbed wire fences.
Committee chairman Stavros Evagorou highlighted the urgent need for infrastructure projects, such as a medical centre for inmates. However by current calculations this centre would not be up and running for at least another five years, he added.
