University support for prison guards and inmates

By Constantinos Psillides

JUSTICE Minister Ionas Nicolaou and University of Cyprus rector Constantinos Christofides signed a memorandum of cooperation on Monday, in an effort to improve the lives of prisoners and prison guards at the Central Prison.

The memorandum includes among other things that prison staff can receive psychological support from a specialised unit within the psychology and sociology departments of the university. They will also be able to take psychology and sociology courses.

While the exact nature of those training courses is not yet defined, the minister said that it would be either through a scholarship or attending selected classes. The same opportunity will also be made available to inmates.

“What is important here is that the university’s willingness to prove that prison grounds can provide people with the opportunity to go into a rewarding profession when they are released. It can give people the opportunity to gather knowledge and experience useful for their future,” said the justice minister.

Christophides told the press that “the quality of a people’s civility is how they treat those that are weaker than them. We at the university are willing to offer our expertise in a number of issues where we can work together with the prison administration to achieve quick results.”

A series of lectures are planned to take place in the prison.

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.