Daily drugs tests carried out in prison

Urine tests for the detection of illegal substances in prisoners are carried out daily, the prisons department said on Tuesday.

The department issued the statement in response to an article that drugs are rampant in the prisons, which stated that Cyprus is one out of three countries in Europe, where drug testing is not carried out in the prison.

The prison refuted this claim.

The announcement added that urine tests are carried out by trained staff members daily on a random basis or upon information, after returning from the courts and also after the return of detainees from leave with or without escort.

An article in Phileleftheros on Monday said that while such incidences were reported in the press, the police has now internally admitted that drugs and other prohibited items are being smuggled into prisons via the courts.

It has been reported that as a result, an order has been issued from senior figures within the police force for “strict controls” to be implemented at courthouses across the country to deal with the phenomenon.

Police officers have reportedly been ordered to “constantly monitor prisoners and carry out strict controls and investigations” on those being transferred between courts and prisons.

The use of mobile phones and drugs in prisons has been a matter which has concerned the police for a while, with an investigation into the use of mobile phones and drugs by inmates being launched in 2022.

The investigation came about after it was found that a man who was serving life sentences for murder was the ringleader of two further attempted murders, which he had orchestrated using a mobile phone behind bars.

More recently, a prison guard was arrested for the possession of drugs in December and suspended from his job.

Another had been arrested in November, with information at the time suggesting that the guard in question was systematically involved in smuggling drugs into the prison for detainees.