26 THE GREEK OMBUDSMAN case by investigating the needs and the personality of each detainee, and without looking for alternatives to the place of residence of the prisoner if there are reasonable suspicions of retaliation against him. vi. Employment Generally speaking, access to employment opportunities seems to be fairly balanced, with rather few individual complaints about discriminatory actions. However, at the Rural Juvenile Detention Centre in Tiryntha, it was observed that disruption resulted from the lack of employment positions and differentiation between internal and external positions, impacting the favourable calculation of time served. There and at the Chalkis Detention Centre, there is general dissatisfaction with the irrational calculation of time served for those holding work positions or participating in educational and professional training programmes, as well as with the less favourable handling in comparison with the Central Prison Equipment Warehouse. The complexity of the conditions and criteria for the allocation of employment results in some prisoners’ believing that the selection procedures provided are not properly implemented. Given that calculation of time served depends on the type of position and the length of time for which the prisoner is be employed, everyone has the expectation that they will be employed directly and selected as soon as possible to work in positions that optimise the calculation of time served. In the case of the Tiryntha Juvenile Detention Centre, the administrators of the prison point to the problem of differentiation between jobs based on how they affect calculation of time served, with bakery work counting for 30 days’ work per month while the same amount of work at the Prison Supply Central Warehouse counting for 60 days’ work per month. Based on the above observations, the NPM proposes to provide for a correspondingly beneficial calculation of time served for the same work in all types of detention facilities, while also clarifying the criteria and conditions for the allocation of employment and the precise provision of specific controls and reviews once the requests are submitted. Given the protest made by inmates of the Nafplio Detention Centre, it is also worth noting the general problem of inmates who have work positions but cannot enter a training/educational programme – even unofficially – as these programmes count as work positions. Inmates – and mainly young inmates – are thus deprived of the potential to take advantage of these programmes.

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