ANNUAL SPECIAL REPORT 2018 21 2.c. Special issues emerging in 2018 i. Risk of recurrence of overcrowding In previous reports, the NPM underlined the fact that, on the one hand, phenomena of extreme overcrowding were starting to fade away and that the total number of detainees in the country did not exceed the previewed capacity, but, on the other hand, that legislative solutions to the urgent decongestion of prisons cannot be efficient if they are not accompanied by a more general intervention in the system of criminal justice and especially in the field of imposing and implementing criminal penalties. The 2018 findings seem to verify that warning, as in the vast majority of the detention facilities the overcrowding phenomenon has reappeared. Significant overpopulation on inspection day was recorded at the Corfu Detention Facility (138 places, 194 prisoners), Tripolis (64 places, 118 prisoners), Nafplio (273 places, 351 prisoners), Kos (56 places, 105 prisoners) and Chalkis (127 places, 179 detainees), as well as relatively manageable overcrowding at the Patra Detention Facility (446 places, 504 prisoners) and Larissa (554 places, 567 prisoners). The actual consequences of overcrowding are particularly visible in small prisons with no supplementary spaces available for use, as in the cases of the Chalkis and Tripolis detention facilities, where stifling living conditions on the blocks exclude all forms of privacy and deviate from the minimum space per prisoner according to European specifications. In general, the NPM realises that while the consequences of the decongestion policies that were implemented by L. 4322/2015 and subsequently extended by L. 4356/2015, 4411/2016, 4489/2017 and 4571/2018 led, initially, to a remarkable decrease in the total number of detainees, significantly lower than the maximum capacity number (In particular: from 11,798 people on 1.1.2015 to 9,611 on 1.1.2016 and 9,560 on 1.1.2017 for 9,815 positions), after three years, there was a steady increase in detention numbers, which exceeded the available number places (namely: 10,011 people on 1.1.2018 and 10,654 on 1.1.2019 for 9,935 positions)2. In addition, it is worth noting that, for the 9,935 places available in the 33 detention facilities in the country, the total number of prisoners may come to 10,654 on 1.1.2019 (in other words, the total number of prisoners exceeds capacity by 801), but half of the country's penitentiaries are full, at more than 100% of their capacity, with the obvious risk of further increases3. From this perspective, the problem of overcrowding in prisons in our country 2 3 Ministry of Justice, “General Statistical Board of Detainees and penalties (20032019)” http://www.ministryofjustice.gr/site/el/ΣΩΦPOΝΙΣΤΙΚΟΣΥΣΤΗΜΑ/ Στατιστικάστοιχείακρατουμένων.aspx Ministry of Justice, “Capacity of Detention Facilities” http://www.ministryofjustice. gr/site/el/ΣΩΦPOΝΙΣΤΙΚΟΣΥΣΤΗΜΑ/Στατιστικάστοιχείακρατουμένων.aspx