Haralambos Athanasiou

With imprisoned bank robber Nikos Romanos set to enter the 26th day of a hunger strike in protest at not being granted study furloughs, Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou was to meet party officials on Friday ahead of the scheduled submission to Parliament next Tuesday of a bill allowing inmates to study from prison.

After a court rejected an appeal by the hunger-striking imprisoned anarchist Nikos Romanos for study furloughs, Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou on Wednesday heralded legislative reform that would allow inmates to study while serving prison sentences.

As 21-year-old anarchist and convicted bank robber Nikos Romanos entered the 21st day of a hunger strike on Monday, protesting the authorities’ refusal to grant him furlough to study at a technical college, the government appeared uncertain how to react.

Greek prisons are at more than 20 percent over capacity in terms of the number of inmates housed there and there is a shortage of personnel to staff new facilities, Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou admitted on Wednesday.

Greece could soon allow conjugal visits within its prison system if a new penal code is passed in Parliament.

In comments made Wednesday, Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou said the proposal is among several recommendations put forward by MPs tasked with coming up with reform proposals.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Monday wrote to Greek Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou clarifying that threats she has alluded to having received over comments regarding tax evasion in Greece were made over social media and not addressed to her personally.

Plans to create maximum-security prisons in Greece, which were announced in January, have yet to move forward, Kathimerini has learned.

Supreme Court prosecutor Efterpi Koutzamani on Wednesday ordered a probe into claims by inmates at Attica’s Korydallos Prison that detention conditions are substandard and conducive to the spread of diseases.

Koutzamani asked Piraeus prosecutor Evangelos Zacharis to probe claims of an increasing number of cases of tuberculosis among inmates.

Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou has denied that Golden Dawn MPs and members being held in pre-trial custody at the women’s wing of Korydallos Prison are receiving preferential treatment.

Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou on Friday awarded a 500-euro stipend to each of the four inmates serving sentences at the Avlona Special Juvenile Detention Establishment who were admitted to technological educational institutes (TEIs) after passing national university entrance exams.