Prison and police make peace after search warrant clash

Police and the department of prisons on Monday agreed that the clash at the Nicosia central prisons between prisoners and officers who were conducting cell searches earlier this month was an “isolated incident” and that cooperation between the two authorities has been efficient so far.

During a meeting at the justice ministry with minister Stevi Drakou to discuss the incident, police chief Stelios Papatheodorou and the director of prisons Anna Aristotelous said that this had been the first time that an issue had arisen with officers entering the facility to conduct a search.

Thirteen officers from the CID and police departments of Nicosia and Limassol said they were assaulted by prisoners, some of whom were them out of their cells, when they went to the central prisons with a search warrant to carry out cell checks for illegal mobile phones and drugs on August 4.

Around seven prisoners reportedly attacked the members of the force with sharp objects and broomsticks. No one was injured.

Despite agreeing that the cooperation between the prisons and the police has proven successful, the two departments on Monday agreed to change the practice applied for the execution of search warrants in prisons into a written cooperation protocol.

This, they said, would allow more effective cooperation and prevent similar incidents in the future.

According to the department of prisons, the thirteen officers caused confusion among prison staff and inmates as they were to target specific individuals for a search but instead decided to search an entire wing.

This is why the prisoners reacted, the department had said, and asked for investigations to be carried out in co-operation with the prisons’ directorate in an “appropriate manner”.

The department also denied reports that the officers had been assaulted with sharp objects and that prison staff intervened when the prisoners reacted against the officers.