An official representing guards at Athens’ maximum security Kordyallos prison has admitted they don’t always watch closed circuit cameras on the site to check on possible escapes after a newspaper printed images showing an inmate climbing out of a window at night to collect something from the prison yard and then returning to his cell.
Speaking to SKAI TV, the head of the prison guards union Marios Oikonomakis said there was no control room from which CCTV cameras were monitored and that the prison lacked state of the art security methods and personnel, as reported by the station’s affiliate, the newspaper Kathimerini.
The Justice Ministry ordered an investigation after the newspaper published the CCTV images, which suggested that prisoners could collect drugs and weapons thrown into the yard from outside.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis last week to discuss stepping at security at Greece’s prison after 11 inmates broke out of Trikala jail and one was involved in a shootout with police later that killed a 25-year-old woman caught in the crossfire.
“There is no operational center to monitor the cameras at Korydallos prison,” Oikonomakis said, adding that there are no sufficient monitoring system methods and no one is watching what the CCTV cameras are recording.
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