Prison

Turkey's parliament ratified a penal reform bill early on April 14 aimed at reducing the sentences of thousands of prisoners, paving the way for their release in a bid to ease overcrowding and protect them from the coronavirus.

The bill was supported by 279 lawmakers in the 600-seat chamber while 51 voted against it.

Three inmates out of 17 infected in open prisons were killed from the novel coronavirus, the justice minister has said, as parliament is continuing discussions on a bill that would release around 90,000 prisoners in a bid to ease the conditions in jails amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russian officials said a large fire was blazing on April 10 at a prison in Siberia where inmates and guards have clashed.

There was no official information about casualties or damage at the prison in Angarsk, 4,000 kilometers east of Moscow.

The Justice Ministry has prepared a plan that is designed to oversee the release of some 90,000 inmates from the country's prisons under a bill, which seeks making amendments in the criminal execution law.

The bill, which was recently submitted to parliament, is part of the wider measures the government has taken in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

A riot erupted at Eleonas' Womens' Prison in central Greece on Thursday morning after a woman whom detainees suspected of being infected with the new coronavirus died earlier in the day.

The prisoners burned mattresses and called for immediate measures to protect their health and reduce overcrowding.

The government has drafted a plan foreseeing the early release of up to 1,500 inmates in a bid to ease congestion in Greek prisons and lessen the chances of transmission of the coronavirus.

A guard at a prison in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri has been giving badminton lessons for 10 years under a protocol signed between the Justice Ministry and the Badminton Federation in 2006.

Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj said on Tuesday that about 600 prisoners are expected to be released from prison and sent home on a special permit for about three months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Those who are serving time in prisons have our special attention to protect the health of everybody despite their status," Gjonaj said in a Facebook video.

Prison inmates in the Central Anatolian province of Isparta, famous for its rose, are producing 130 tons of rose cologne every month in the facility's cosmetic workshop.

Products from the workshop, which has been open for nearly two years, are sold all over Turkey, while convicts and detainees also earn income from production.

Given the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Hellenic League for Human Rights has called on the ministers of citizens' protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, and justice, Kostas Tsiaras, to take immediate action to decongest prisons around the country.