Petros Damianos was one of the founders of EPEA Hellas and the headmaster of the prison school of Avlona. Petros was a leading figure for development of prison education in Hellas. He served many years in the EPEA Steering Committee
This is the personal account of the situation made by Petros.
Translation from Facebook …
In recent days, many have been writing about quarantine and confinement, you have begun to understand a little bit about what ‘deprivation of liberty’ means.
I will try to give you a more complete picture … For this purpose you need to be isolated in a place and to activate your imagination …
If your bedroom is not very big it suits us. And why not lay down? We are in the middle of quarantine; you might as well put your imagination to good use. With the space occupied by the built-in closet we have a free space of 3 by 3. It is enough for prisons. Empty the room of all furniture. Now on your right build two doorless spaces. One for bathing and one for wc. Leave room for a makeshift sink. Be careful not to waste too much space, but also to be able to enter. You will be left with a free space of about 2 by 3 or 2 by 2.5 or 2 by 2. Such are more or less the dimensions of the cells in the Avlonas Prison for Young Offenders.
In other Greek prisons,they could be worse…
In this free space, place two iron beds. Somewhere in between the beds, you have your personal belongings,usually clothes. There is no closet.
Continue on your mental journey…
Above the two beds placed in V-shape or one opposite the other, place two more beds,thus creating two compact iron bunk beds.
Now you are ready to welcome your roommates along with their belongings, who are not your relatives but strangers. That’s it?
No… because since September,half of the prison cells have been emptied for renovations… The cells are empty, not the prison…
Now in the place you mentally created, my dear internet friends, put 4 more of your fellow inmates, also strangers, with their things …
What? There’s not enough beds?
Yeah, I know…
No more beds, but two mattresses can fit on the floor …. T
wo people can share one bed or, alternatively, take turns to sleep on the floor…
And so, as there will be 8 of you in the space that was created, try to protect yourself … by washing your hands
… Thoroughly …
