Cyprus’ prison and other holding facilities are full, Justice Minister Costas Fitiris said on Friday, though he did stress that the government is “trying to find solutions”.

“The prisons are full, the detention centres are full, and we are trying to find solutions,” he said, before making reference to a fire which broke out in the holding cells of the Limassol police headquarters, which has exacerbated the situation.

Among the solutions sought is the planned construction of a new prison near the Nicosia district village of Mathiatis, though Fitiris had said last month that this may take four or more years to build.

However, the village’s community leader Theodoros Tsatsos said that he has not agreed to the plans, and that they can only go ahead with the village’s consent.

He argued that there is no space left in the village, which already hosts two army camps, archaeological sites, churches, and farms.

Earlier, the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture had warned of “serious problems” at the existing central prison in Nicosia and said it had “grave concerns” over “the high levels of inter-prisoner violence” at the facility.

It spoke of a “failure of prison staff to ensure the safety of those in custody” and said that this has been brought about in part thanks to a “chronic shortage of frontline officers”.

This shortage, it said, “has allowed stronger prisoner groups to dominate and impose informal punishments, undermining safety and order”.

It added that living conditions for inmates at the prison “remain very poor” and are “affected by severe overcrowding” and said that “up to four prisoners” share cells of less than six square metres in area.

In those cells, it said, “two persons are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor, when such cells are scarcely sufficient for one person”.

Additionally, it said that access to toilets in the prison is “inadequate” for inmates, and that more than half of the prisons’ blocks are “lacking in in-cell sanitary facilities”.

The report also referred to the situations faced by children and young adults who are incarcerated in Cyprus, saying that the conditions in which they are held are “unsuitable and unhygienic”.

“Some minors have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor in mouldy, graffiti-covered cells and lacked access to education or purposeful activities. Many children reported being cold, hungry, and bored,” it said.

As well as the central prison, the report also highlighted issues faced at other detention facilities on the island, stating that people “continue to be detained in police custody for prolonged periods, in many cases for months, in conditions which were usually appropriate only for a few days”.

“Most detained individuals stated that they were treated correctly by the police; nevertheless, a few allegations of physical ill-treatment and verbal abuse were received. The authorities should reinforce a zero-tolerance policy towards any ill-treatment practices,” it said.

The Pournara migrant reception centre was also referred to by the report, which stated that the situation “had vastly improved” since the committee visited it last in 2023.