Justice Minister Costas Fytiris and the mayors of the municipalities affected by plans for a new prison at Agios Sozomenos agreed on Tuesday to wait for studies and cost estimates, after going over the site’s problems at their first meeting since it was announced. In the end, the final cost to the taxpayer will decide whether the project goes ahead.
Agios Sozomenos is the second site considered after Mathiatis, and the obstacles are many. If it is chosen, some facilities would have to be moved, since a prison cannot coexist with pig farms or a sewage plant. Phileleftheros has learned that the mayors, Christos Pittaras of Latsia-Geri and Stavros Hadjigiannis of South Nicosia-Idalion, pressed this objection at the meeting.
They asked either that the area be left as it is, with the Dali-Geri livestock zone relocated, or that the prison be built there with the pig farms moved and a livestock zone created elsewhere. The municipalities are not opposed to the project, which they regard as hugely valuable, but they do not want it next to pig farms and sewage.
Prison overcrowding is also affecting the police, as police holding cells have been turned into prisons and now hold several times their capacity. At Aradippou police station, 39 detainees are held in cells meant for eight.
The ministry said the local authorities’ positions and reasonable concerns were recorded at the meeting, and that talks would continue at every stage of planning. A state-owned plot of 1 million square metres at Agios Sozomenos has been chosen so that its suitability can be examined and a master plan and the necessary studies drawn up.
The final decision will be taken once the master plan and the technical, environmental and other studies are complete and all the data have been assessed. The master plan will be presented to the local authorities for consultation, so that their views and well-founded proposals can be taken into account before the plans are finalised.
If the studies confirm that the site is suitable and the project feasible, the ministry said, it would also consider the local authorities’ fair and well-founded requests, particularly on infrastructure, the environment and the wider upgrading of the area, and meet them as far as possible.
As Phileleftheros has reported, the justice minister has decided that the holding cells at Menogeia will become the police’s central holding facility, expected to house 160 to 180 people, but the upgrade work is running late.
In an effort to recruit more prison guards, a vacancy announcement that would also accept applications from Greek candidates may be issued.
The appointment of a new Central Prisons director has stalled briefly because one of the three leading candidates is ill. On the final list drawn up by an independent firm, the three are separated by one point. They are a former military officer, an academic and someone who previously worked at the prisons.
