Prison problems in Greece

Here's one to make the UK Home Secretary's eyes water, or the Minister for the Department of Justice and Buck-Passing, or whatever it is that they are re-branding it to.

There has been a spate of unrest in Greece's jails, which has spread to the prison at Chania, where prisoners have been refusing to eat or go back to their cells in protests over poor treatment and over-crowding.

The Chania jail building is 80 years old, and is filled with almost twice as many prisoners as it was designed for. It is also under-staffed, with only 39 or the required 65 staff being employed.

Yet Greece remains a country with a low crime rate.

In the UK however, despite the constant shrill cries from the tabloids and politicians of every party for more people to be in jail, serving longer sentences, in harsher conditions, crime is still a major worry for people despite England & Wales already have the highest per capita prison population in the EU (149 per 100,000 people, compared to 90 per 100,000 in Greece).

Comments

[Papalaz]

"The Chania jail building is 80 years old, and is filled with almost twice as many prisoners as it was designed for. It is also under-staffed..."

sounds like a tea party compared to Wandsworth nick which we used to live next to - a large Victorian toilet also holding twice as many as it was designed for and with a staff almost entirely composed of crooks and psychopaths

[Lucy]

boring!