The central prison in Nicosia is getting full of Congolese nationals – men and women – who tried to leave Cyprus with forged or stolen travel documents, according to Philenews.
In fact, the number of inmates from Congo has doubled within a month and one sixth of inmates right now are – by majority – Congolese, it added.
In particular, 126 convicted and detained persons now in the central prison are from the specific African country.
The problem becomes even worse with the women’s wing since – apart from the fact that it is overcrowded, the majority of the detainees are there because of illegal stay in the Republic.
Up until July life in the women’s wing was quite normal with some 25-28 prisoners, but suddenly the population skyrocketed to 68 – most of whom are Congolese.
Among the detainees are pregnant women or mothers with young children who are now away from them. And this leads to a humanitarian problem as well.
