A 23-year-old foreign national was found dead in his cell at Nicosia Central Prisons in the early hours of Saturday, just days before he was scheduled for release under a presidential pardon for the Christmas holidays.
The death, which is being treated by authorities as a likely suicide, occurs against a backdrop of intense scrutiny over the facility’s management and severely overcrowded conditions, as highlighted by a damning report from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published earlier this month.
Initial assessments by police at the facility indicate the death was not a criminal act.
However, the deceased’s cellmates are reportedly in shock, stating the young man had not expressed any intent to self-harm.
The inmate was serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence and, according to sources, was seen on surveillance cameras mopping his ward late on Friday night before entering his cell after 11:00 PM.
The Nicosia Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched an inquiry to determine the exact circumstances of the death, including a review of closed-circuit surveillance footage from the wing. A state medical examiner is scheduled to conduct an examination.
Authorities noted that the young man was not under psychological monitoring and had no known pathological problems.
The incident is the latest in a series of events raising serious concerns about safety at the correctional facility.
The CPT report, which was delivered to the government shortly before the death, expressed grave concern over high levels of inter-prisoner violence and chronic staff shortages, which the committee said allow “stronger prisoner groups to dominate and impose informal punishments.”
Furthermore, the CPT criticised the severely overcrowded conditions, where up to four inmates are confined to small cells, forcing some to sleep on mattresses on the floor.
The report also detailed the “degrading” lack of sanitation, with more than half of the prison blocks lacking in-cell toilets, forcing prisoners to use plastic containers due to a lack of staff to allow nighttime access to communal facilities.
The new Minister of Justice, Constantinos Fytiris, visited the facility last Thursday to be briefed on the situation in the wake of the CPT report, which calls on the Cypriot authorities to urgently recruit and train more staff to regain control and address the long-standing deficiencies.
Only days prior to Saturday’s death, an Egyptian inmate had died after being struck in the face in his cell, while another prisoner had recently attempted to suicide after a transfer between wings.