Cyprus Justice Minister: blocking mobile communications in prisons will strike organized crime

Illegal communication between inmates and the outside world via mobile phones in Cyprus’s Central Prisons directly facilitates the activities of organized crime. This was stated by the new Justice Minister, Costas Fittiris, speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee.

According to the minister, putting an end to the illegal use of mobile phones in places of detention will be an important step in combating criminal networks which, as he noted, continue to coordinate their actions and order illegal operations directly from prison cells.

Fittiris stressed that in a number of cases serious crimes outside prison walls are planned and managed by convicted individuals who have illegal access to means of communication. For this reason, the technical suppression of mobile communications in penitentiary institutions is considered a priority.

Addressing lawmakers, the minister also said that the Ministry of Justice is promoting a package of measures aimed at resolving chronic problems related to conditions in the Central Prisons. These include both security issues and systemic failures that have accumulated over many years.

The discussion took place within the framework of a broader debate on the observance of human rights in the penitentiary system, as well as the need to balance humane detention conditions with the protection of public safety.