A new, state-of-the-art central prisons building is all but complete and will relieve prison overcrowding by about 30 per cent, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said on Wednesday.
Its inauguration date by President Nikos Christodoulides has been set for December 16.
“We are just waiting for a small area of concrete to be laid [once the concrete strike ends],” the minister said.
The building had been designed based on stringent security criteria with upgraded guard stations and is expected to relieve the problem of prison overcrowding by about 30 per cent, Hartsiotis told the CyBC.
The new building has the capacity to house up to 240 inmates or convicts. The older building was built to house 600-650, but currently houses 1000, the minister said, about a third of whom would be transferred to the new facility in December.
A second new facility is also in the works at the same site, for which a budget had already been approved, he said.
Elsewhere, tightening the escort of prisoners who leave their incarceration for any reason was well underway Hartsiotis said, and a revised protocol had been established for two specialised, trained units to act under.
Staff numbers have been boosted with new hires which are set to continue, while further surveillance technology also being acquired.
Last but not least, the legally encoded ban of mobile phone use by inmates and mobile phone deactivation in prisons would go into effect in 2025, the minister said.
