Overcrowding in Central Prison hinders new arrests

Severe overcrowding at Nicosia's Central Prison has forced authorities to house inmates in police detention centers. The situation has already begun to hamper new arrests, as temporary holding cells in police stations are also full.

The prison, designed for approximately 700 people, currently holds 1,164 inmates. Despite weekly presidential pardons, which release about 10 people at a time, the prisoner population continues to grow.

According to the newspaper, about 50 inmates are currently being held in police stations due to the lack of space in the prison. This creates additional difficulties for the police—in some cases, arrests are being postponed or not carried out at all due to the absence of available spaces to hold detainees.

The Ministry of Justice is considering the early release of 130 prisoners who were originally scheduled to be freed at the end of the year. Most of them are foreign nationals convicted of immigration law violations.

In the long term, authorities have approved the construction of a new prison with 1,200 beds. However, as the publication warns, without additional solutions and reforms, even this may prove insufficient within five years.