Ayios Sozomenos leads options for new central prison, with final decision awaiting master plan

Ayios Sozomenos, Cyprus. The abandoned Nicosia district village of Ayios Sozomenos is currently the most likely location for the new central prison, Justice Minister Costas Fitiris said on Thursday. A final decision will be made after the completion of a master plan and related studies.

Site selection and consultation

Fitiris said Mathiatis, another village in the Nicosia district, had initially been the leading option but was set aside because of the high financial cost associated with its lack of infrastructure.

“Studies carried out with the assistance of the European Development Bank will show whether this is the final decision,” he said.

The minister said he had committed to presenting the master plan to the affected municipalities once it was ready, allowing them to give their views and identify changes they would like to see.

Asked whether an alternative to Ayios Sozomenos was being considered, he said the current focus was on assessing the advantages and disadvantages before making a final decision after the master plan and studies were completed.

If everything proceeds as planned, the goal is to have “bulldozers on the ground before the end of 2027”, he said.

Cost, capacity and local objections

The new prison is currently expected to cost €300 million and accommodate a maximum of 1,500 inmates. The plans have already faced opposition from local authorities in the area.

Both the South Nicosia and Idalion and the Latsia and Yeri municipalities have argued that the area already supports “extensive agricultural activity” and that the proposed site had previously been designated for livestock farming.

The earlier proposal for Mathiatis faced similar objections. Village mukhtar Theodoros Tsatsos said earlier this year that he had not agreed to the construction of a prison in the village and that work could begin only with the village’s consent.

History of Ayios Sozomenos

Ayios Sozomenos was a predominantly Turkish Cypriot village before the outbreak of intercommunal violence in Cyprus in the 1960s. Its Turkish Cypriot inhabitants knew it as Arpalik.

Turkish Cypriots, who accounted for 87 per cent of the village’s population, fled to nearby Louroujina. Its Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled in the opposite direction, to Potamia.