Amid reports revealing Cypriot prisons arethe most overcrowded in Europe,at an occupancy rate of 226.2 per cent, the prison guards branch of the Pasydy union on Tuesday warned that “critical understaffing” could lead to increasingly volatile conditions.

But the government said moves are already underway to upgrade facilities, and when it came to power the prisons already housed 170 per cent of the people they were designed to.

“We will immediately seek substantive and constructive dialogue with both the justice ministry and the directorate of the prisons department and every involved body, setting the protection of the interests and dignity of all prison guards as a non-negotiable basis. Unity and collective action will be the pillars of our effort,” the union said. 

It said the understaffing is critical, to the extent that it makes working conditions unbearable. Therefore, both a filling of all vacant positions and the creation of new ones are required.

However, the justice ministry later said when it took over in 2023, the overcrowding rate stood at 70 per cent with 620 available detention spaces and over 1,000 prisoners consistently detained.

Over the course of one year, it said, three new detention facilities were created, increasing the prison capacity to a total to 860.

Furthermore, the construction of a new wing with a capacity of 360 spaces was underway, which would increase capacity to 1,200. The project is expected to be completed by early 2028.

Overall, the government noted that with the creation of new detention spaces for prisoners on remand and convicts, the issue of holding those on remand in police stations had been alleviated by 75 per cent.