Cyprus central prison plan reaches third version at €300 million after seven months of site disputes

Nicosia, Cyprus. Seven months after the government began trying to settle on a site for a new central prison, the project is on its third version, with an estimated price tag of about €300 million. The latest proposal, for land near Ayios Sozomenos, has also become contentious.

Overcrowding at the existing prison

Nobody disputes that a new facility is needed. The current prison, built in 1894, holds almost 1,200 inmates, which is an occupancy rate of 227.6 per cent. That is the highest in the EU and exceeds double the capacity the British planned for.

Sites ruled out

Enlarging the ageing Victorian-era building at its Ayios Andreas location in Nicosia has been excluded. A move to Mathiatis was also dropped, after opposition from locals and a fresh government assessment of whether the site was suitable.

Focus on Ayios Sozomenos

The justice ministry is now looking at state-owned land near Ayios Sozomenos, an abandoned Turkish Cypriot village east of Nicosia, close to the buffer zone. The location had appeared to be an ideal middle ground, but it too has become a source of controversy.

Plans presented to parliament

Justice Minister Costas Fitiris showed draft plans to the House finance committee earlier this week. They featured four detention wings, a medical unit, a football pitch, a Christian chapel and a Muslim prayer room.

The following day, Fitiris acknowledged that the images had been created with artificial intelligence and were merely a portrayal of what the complex might contain. The ministry called the rendering “an indicative illustration, which in no way constitutes the master plan of the project nor does it prejudge its final form or layout”.

Fitiris emphasised that environmental and urban planning studies must come before any final decisions. The ministry’s next annual budget will earmark €1 million for those studies and preparatory work.

Earlier setback in Mathiatis

The presentation followed a troubled autumn for the project. In March, the minister announced that the prison would go on the outskirts of Mathiatis, on state land that he said contained no known antiquities and was not designated as forest.

Mathiatis community leader Theodoros Tsatsos initially opposed the plan but later backed it. He said the ministry “was in a hurry to announce it” and that residents had not received full information.