Across Greece, mutinous inmates have gone on the rampage, taking control of prisons with a speed that has shocked local authorities.
Since March 1, panic-stricken residents of Corfu have lived in fear of rioting inmates at the town's maximum-security prison. Anxiety abounds that the convicts, who include some of Greece's most dangerous crimininals, will succeed in pulling off a mass escape from the high-walled jail.In Corfu, the convicts have stripped the institution bare, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. In Chios and Crete they have demolished cells and kitchens. In the city of Larissa they have held night-long vigils on prison rooftops, and in the western port of Patras they have raided the prison pharmacy, burning mattresses, chairs and tables.
In all of the jails, the sole demand of the inmates has been better living conditions. Yet, while the revolt has sent tremors through the nation, it also has highlighted Greece's antiquated penal system and the deep-rooted problems that plague the worst jails in the West.
With rare unanimity, politicians across the spectrum agree that the time has come to overhaul the institutions if the insurrection is to be halted and others are to be kept at bay.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis's government has given both the justice and public order ministers the go-ahead to enact reforms necessary to end the riots. But the task is proving far from easy.
The complaints of inmates, declared in an array of multilingual banners posted from the prisons, are legion. Topping their list of grievances is chronic jail overcrowding. Currently, more than 6,000 convicts live in space designed for fewer than 4,000, with as many as five sharing a cell.
Since the collapse of communism, Greece's prison population has swelled with the arrest of Albanians and other East Europeans who have flocked here in search of work. With the dozens of Westerners who are annually picked up for drug trafficking at airports and border checkpoints, foreigners now account for one-third of the total number of inmates.
Given the lack of space, segregation is a luxury. First-time offenders charged with white-collar crimes often are forced to serve sentences alongside murderers and other hard-core criminals.
Unlike other European Union states, Greece has yet to apply alternative penal measures, like community service.
"In such circumstances convicts who have been imprisoned for petty crimes often come out as hardened criminals," said Ioanna Kourtovik, a prominent civil rights lawyer in Athens. "The conditions are so abysmal that prisoners feel they have nothing to lose but their chains. Without knowing Greek or having any family support, foreigners are particularly hard hit."
To make matters worse, Greece's outmoded penal code means that defendants can be held in jail for up to 18 months before trial. More than half of the inmates presently in remand at the juvenile wing of the country's main Korydallos prison, outside Athens, are detainees rather than convicts.
"Often there are times when defendants are finally brought to trial after a long stint in prison and are found innocent by a court," Kourtovik added.
The system has come under attack by Greek experts, who have condemned the ease with which judges so often put people behind bars instead of releasing them on bail, and by international organizations. Last year the Council of Europe staunchly denounced their lack of basic facilities as a denial of prisoners' individual rights.
Although around one-third of Greece's total prison population are serving drug-related sentences, rehabilitation programs for drug addicts are still non-existent.
"Most users find that their addiction problem is much worse when they come out of jail," said a British-born former heroin addict who was given an 18-month prison term under Greece's stringent drug laws. "Only chaos and corruption exists in Greek jails."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)