PRISONS
Certain minors, especially those who had recently entered the country, were in
summer clothes and flip flops (the inspection took place in December) and the
children were obviously cold. The social service argued that their needs in clothes
and shoes were always met but it was the minors who rejected the clothes or traded
them with cigarettes and other commodities. The minors, on their part, persisted
that the items that were delivered to them, were not sufficient, and that their
requests for clothes were not met.
The infirmary was housed in the same office with the social services and the facility's
psychologist. As a result all professionals had difficulties in their work, namely
dealing with privacy issues and meeting the detainees' requests. Notwithstanding
these setbacks, it is noteworthy that there were psychological support services
available as opposed to the past.31
We observed increased demand for mental health medicaments from minors.
Teenage detainees reported difficulty to sleep, intense anxiety and fear, need for
psychiatric monitoring and tendencies of self-harm. This is particularly troubling
considering the lack of purposeful activities, including employment, athletic and
leisure activities. Another serious problem was the lack of psychosocial support and
interpretation.
Primary school students were allocated in five groups depending on their Greek
language level. Due to the lack of educators each group of students had lessons
once a week. As a result students spent four mornings per week out of school doing
nothing. Lessons in high-school differed significantly from those offered in the
Ministry curriculum, if they were even followed. There was no option to follow any
vocational training programs, certified courses or seminars. A gym instructor was
available once a week. Minors could exercise freely during out-of-cell time but
weight-lifting was prohibited for security reasons. The gym equipment room
remained shut as it could not be used without a gym instructor's supervision for
security reasons.
The NPM team found that the lack of purposeful activities had physical, mental and
emotional repercussions on minors but it also fueled tensions between inmates and
tensions between inmates and guards. On the other hand, the NPM had reported
the positive effects of previous practices which had given minors the chance to
31
The Greek Ombudsman, National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture and Ill-treatment
- Annual Special Report 2016, https://www.synigoros.gr/resources/docs/opcat_2016_en.pdf
33
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