From: http://rabble.org.uk/greeces-new-type-c-prisons-a-brief-intro/
Over the new year Greece started moving prisoners into the first “Type C” maximum security prison designed to isolate anarchist fighters, urban guerrillas and other rebels.
On 30 December, anarchist Nikos Maziotis, member of the Revolutionary Struggle group, became the first prisoner to be transferred to the new maximum security wing at Domokos prison. On 2 January he was joined by four more prisoners: anarchist comrade Kostas Gournas (Revolutionary Struggle), Dimitris Koufontinas from the Marxist organisation 17 November, and anarchist prisoners Yannis Naxakis and Grigoris Sarafoudis. (All links to articles and tags on 325, which has much more information on these prisoners and their struggles).
The state has continued to transfer prisoners in dribs and drabs throughout the week; the corporate media states that 17 people are now being held there.
Domokos prison, in central Greece, is the first prison to be revamped and classified as “Type C” under a new law passed in July. Type C prisons are the first Greek prisons that will meet Europe-wide maximum security standards. The regime prohibits day release and rules out parole for those serving life sentences before prisoners have served at least 20 years behind bars. The general operation and supervision of the prison will be tightly controlled and prison access guarded by the police rather than screws. Visits and phone calls will be restricted.
Type C prisons are specially made for ‘terrorist’ prisoners (urban guerrillas & revolutionaries), and other detainees deemed to pose a serious threat.
The new Domokos wing opens just as more fighters from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire are handed prison sentences of up to 25 years.
These are the actions of a state desperate to contain the spread of rebellion in Greece since the explosion of the economic crisis in 2008. One Domokos prisoner, Revolutionary Struggle fighter Nikos Maziotis, has already issued a call for the formation of an assembly in solidarity with political prisoners. Maziotis writes:
“the passing of legislation of the Type C prisons are an expected development in the repressive attack of the State against the armed Revolutionary Organizations and against armed direct action. Subsequently, the legislative changes and reforms that have been under way for about 14 years are directly linked to the political and economic conditions, applicable for years internationally, and none other than the “war on terror” and the neoliberal reforms intended to impose the dictatorship of the markets, and its doctorate of supranational capital.”
If the huge wave of prisoner hunger strikes against the law & recent riots in support of Nikos Romanos are anything to go by, the Greek state can only expect more resistance.
Domokos Priso