As the number of prisoners in Cyprus’ central prisons has climbed to a new high authorities have decided to transfer elsewhere a large percentage of inmates who are illegal migrants and shouldn’t be there anyway.
These migrants could have been issued administrative measures to relieve some pressure from the overcrowded prison, insiders told Philenews on Saturday.
That is why a relevant bill which is now under draft at the Justice Ministry providing for the use of alternative measures but also the immediate transfer of some 250 migrants to a facility outside the prisons in Nicosia.
These inmates are mostly from Congo and Somalia and they are behind bars because they either arrived illegally in Cyprus or tried to travel abroad with forged documents.
The Republic’s courts usually impose prison sentences of six to 10 months for these offenses.
A number of facilities that could accommodate these offenders until their deportation are under consideration, an insider also said.
