It was adopted by a majority vote in its competent committee. parliamentdraft law of the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection on “Reforming and Modernizing the Criminal Code”.

Only the ND MPs voted in favor, while SYRIZA, PASOK-KINAL and Hellenic Solution reserved themselves for the plenary session, and the KKE together with MERA25 said they would vote against.

Earlier, extra-parliamentary bodies, which were invited to the competent committee of parliament to express their opinion on the bill, made their comments, reservations, as well as proposals for improving the changes.

Recognizing, in principle, all the competent authorities that the draft law, in principle, is moving in the right direction, they requested further clarifications and clarifications, focusing mainly on ensuring the human rights of prisoners and on the abolition of discrimination, on a large deficit – both in human resources, and in the material and technical infrastructure of prisons – in the safety of prisoners and correctional officers, as well as in regular and study holidays.

President of the Federation of Correctional Officers of Greece, Konstantinos Varsamis proposed, among other things, ameliorative changes to the issue of regular and study holidays for prisoners, indicating that at least study holidays should not be prohibited.

Secretary General of the Federation of Foreign Guards, Vasilis Kefalasstressed the improvement of the organization and operation of prisons, emphasizing that laws alone are not enough, but immediate solutions are needed to address the huge chronic problems and especially the large shortage of staff and infrastructure.

Mr. Kefalas also mentioned the lack of security for both prisoners and prison officials. In addition, he pointed to the need to create special beds in public hospitals.

Member of the Hellenic Prosecutors Association, Nikolaos Fistopoulos, emphasized that “the bill is moving in a very good direction in terms of conditions of detention”, noting, however, that it needs some necessary improvements. Mr. Fistopoulos expressed concern about the prisoner’s legal assistance, the conditions of his detention, the ban on transfer if someone files an appeal, arguing that this could also serve as a pretext for his transfer. He also asked for a precise definition under what conditions anyone can find out about a prisoner’s criminal status because they have a legitimate interest, stressing that the provision should either be improved or removed because it violates the protection of personal data.

In addition, he argued that “there is confusion about regular and study leave”, asked for “clarification in order to accurately determine a more correct basis for calculating benefits”, while noting that “minor offenses carry more serious punishment than serious misdemeanors” and stressed that the scope for license violations should be outlined.

Representative of the Plenary Assembly of the Hellenic Bar Associations and President of the Serres Bar Association, Panagiotis Karipoglu, said that there are very good provisions, such as a remedy for a prisoner from the conditions of his detention, but there are others, such as education permits, that need improvement, because the right to education must be protected, especially for young prisoners. He stressed the “terrible understaffing of the prisons” as well as the “need to raise the visit limit for children from 8 to 13 years old and allow them to be accompanied by their mother”, while at the same time he suggested that a representative of the lawyers’ union on the Central Prison Council.

President of the Transgender Support Association, Anna Constantinidis he called “the urgent need for a supplement that will firmly protect human rights and effectively promote equality”.

“There is a need to outline a national strategy for LGBTI equality. Transgender people should be treated equally and treated according to their self-identified gender. It is necessary and should be clearly reflected in this bill, and transgender people always respect gender status. There should be a clear reference to absolute respect for the gender of all people,” he said.

President of the Regional Branch of Central Greece and the Association of Social Workers of Greece, Dimitris Vantsisemphasized “the need to immediately staff prisons with a sufficient number of officials, as well as scientific personnel”, emphasizing that he joins the voice of all trade union bodies that mentioned the existing age-old problems and dangers associated with a huge shortage.

As he characteristically put it, “there are very few social workers, resulting in only one or none in some prisons,” while he noted that “many colleagues are very close to burnout.”

Source: APE/MEB