European court orders compensation for Trikala Prison inmates

The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday called on the Greek state to pay a total of 133,300 euros in compensation to six inmates of Trikala Prison after ruling that their detention was “inhuman and humiliating.”

In a court decision that was published on Wednesday the court upheld an appeal by the six plaintiffs who had complained of excessive overcrowding in the prison.

According to their appeal, although their cell was designed to accommodate a maximum of 64 inmates, a total of 177 were being held there in January 2009, with that number rising to 185 in June 2012 and 215 later that year.

The cells had no ventilation, and no air conditioning in summer, and there were only six showers for hundreds of inmates, all outdoors, the plaintiffs added.