The recent escape of 17 November member Christodoulos Xiros during a schedule prison leave has sparked a huge debate regarding the measure’s efficiency and relevance. The Minister of Justice Charalambos Athanasiou announced his intention to establish stricter criteria for the prison leaves.
Golden Dawn MP Eleni Zaroulia questioned the Minister of Justice on prison leave criteria and complained that the six detained MPs of the ultranationalist party were not given leave to perform their parliamentary duties.
Mr. Athanasiou responded that despite the shortcomings that lead to Xiros’ escape, statistics and experience indicate that the measure is highly successful in its intended purpose of rehabilitating and reintegrating convicts into society.
The Minister of Justice further argued that while improvements were necessary to ensure so that dangerous criminals do not abuse the system and revealed that Greece has the lowest European rates of prisoners escaping during leave (2.5%).
