Good evening, comrades, from the D2 wing of the Trikala closed prison.
Autumn 2012 saw a lot of action in this particular wing. In September, we stopped working in our section but also in almost all the prison wards. It was a massive protest, in which all prisoners participated, that resulted in a halt on all operations (kitchens, canteens, nurses, cleaners).
In October, the head of the prison’s prosecution service decided not to grant temporary leave to a prisoner held in the D1 wing, who wished to attend his parent’s funeral, a decision which sparked further tension. In the D1 and D2 wings, a rebellion broke out immediately. The bulletproof-glass windows of the staff’s security booth were smashed, what caused the prison guard on duty to get scared and run away, and then the computers were also trashed. Anti-riot squadrons along with other police forces were deployed outside, but the chief warden intervened and prevented their entry.
Soon afterwards, they put all the blame on the prosecutor because she had issued a negative decision, but eventually a prisoner serving a life sentence claimed full responsibility for the incidents. So, a disciplinary action was taken against him, and he was even referred to trial, but I don’t know the exact charges against him. The prosecutor was fairly beaten by another old lifer, whom she had repeatedly denied temporary leave from prison, and after that incident she permanently left the specific prison. As for us, we paid the price with being confined for two weeks in our cells, until new bulletproof glasses were delivered from Athens and the damages were restored, amounting to over 20,000 euros.
Other than that, the food is terrible, there’s no heating oil, so no central heating either (and they don’t even give us extra blankets), plus we are boiling water in cooking pots in order to bathe. As far as the social service is concerned, there is no worker in this field, so a psychologist is doing the job instead. I hope something will change on New Year’s Day.
That’s all for now from the hellholes of democracy.
FREEDOM FOR ALL IMPRISONED!
Vaggelis K.
D2 Wing, Trikala prison