Half of prisoners in for drugs
Almost half the number of prisoners serving a sentence in Greece’s overcrowded prisons have been convicted for drug-related crimes as the country’s outdated laws tend to punish the users rather than the traffickers, according to legal experts. According to Public Order Ministry data seen by Sunday’s Kathimerini, of Greece’s 9,964 prisoners, 4,346 are serving time for narcotics-related offenses. That number is growing steadily; a year ago 3,968 people were in jail for such crimes. Experts pointed out that laws have changed in other European Union states to target drug dealers and help addicts with rehabilitation. «Greece has slowed down in adjusting to a new legal reality at a time when essential changes are needed to the core of the philosophy behind penalties,» said lawyer Takis Michololias. «To start off with, quantity limits that separate a user from a dealer have not been set,» he added. Legal sources said that dealers plead guilty to the lesser charge of drug use in order to minimize their jail sentences. Another area of concern is the large number of suspects who are in prison after being remanded in custody while awaiting trial. Nearly 40 percent of prisoners in jail on drug-related charges are suspects waiting for their turn in the courtroom. The drug business behind bars is a booming industry valued at around -3.2 million as wardens appear to be turning a blind eye to the trade. «A gram of heroin in jail costs around -300, about 10 times more than on the outside. Taxpayers are paying money to turn prisoners into rubbish and return them [to society] worse than they were before,» said Giorgos Hadzopoulos, a prisoner serving a seven-year sentence at Alikarnassos prison in Crete. «The monthly turnover reaches -270,000 and the profits for traders are astronomical,» he added. There are currently 9,964 prisoners in Greek jails which are designed to accommodate only 5,584 people.
