The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture has condemned conditions at Cyprus’s Central Prisons, warning that chronic staff shortages have allowed powerful inmate groups to dominate and impose informal punishments.
The CPT, which visited Cyprus last April, said in a report released today that conditions remain as poor as during its 2023 inspection, with authorities needing to urgently hire and train more staff to regain control of the facility.
The committee painted a stark picture of overcrowding, with single-occupancy cells housing four prisoners who sleep on floors. In Wing 10A, up to four inmates are crammed into cells measuring just 5.5 square metres.
Over half the cells lack internal toilets, forcing prisoners to urinate in bottles or defecate in plastic bags overnight when staff shortages prevent access to communal facilities. The CPT described this situation as “degrading”.
The report raised particular concern about juveniles held at Central Prisons due to the absence of a dedicated youth facility. The committee found minors sleeping on floors in cells with heavy mould and said the prison was unsuitable for detaining children.
Overcrowding remained the root cause of most serious problems affecting detention conditions and treatment of prisoners, according to the report.
The CPT noted one positive development since 2023: it received almost no complaints of physical abuse by staff. However, inter-prisoner violence and staff neglect in preventing such violence remained concerning and had worsened in some areas.
The committee called for authorities to urgently review violence prevention policies and recruit more frontline staff to address these issues.
On healthcare, apart from hiring a psychiatrist, the report found no notable improvements since 2023. Medical confidentiality remained problematic, with guards rather than nurses distributing medication, and injury recording was inadequate.
The CPT also found no effective complaints system for prisoners, with many inmates reporting their complaints never received responses. The internal system failed to maintain principles of confidentiality, effectiveness and traceability.
The committee called for measures to establish proper suicide and self-harm prevention policies and to develop an approach to substance use.
Prisoners can spend most of the day outside their cells, and authorities have slightly expanded the range of activities and training offered, though regular access to useful activities, education and organised sports remains unavailable to many inmates.
The Ministry of Justice and new minister Constantinos Fytis are studying the report.