Prisoners hit the roof to protest conditions
Police surrounded a high-security prison in central Greece yesterday after some 100 inmates refused to return to their cells in protest at the alleged beating of a prisoner and the lack of water in the jail. The standoff began at 11 a.m., when prisoners from three of the 10 wings at Malandrino Prison in Fokida remained in the exercise yard despite orders to return to their cells. Later, they climbed onto the prison roof. Prison authorities said that the group included murderers and drug traffickers and that it was led by 29-year-old Yiannis Dimitrakis, who was involved in an armed robbery at the National Bank last January. Some 460 people are being held in Malandrino, which only has a capacity of 280 inmates. The prisoners claim that the water has not been running in the jail for the last three days but authorities denied this was the case.
