AG to decide what to do with money earned in prison store

The attorney-general will decide about some €600,000 amassed by wardens running a prison convenience store that sold products at higher prices than supermarkets outside, an MP said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a House Watchdog Committee meeting, AKEL MP Irene Charalambidou quoted the justice minister as saying that the attorney-general would decide on the fate of the reserve accumulated by wardens who have been administering the shop since the 60s.

During a previous discussion of the matter in February, MPs heard that products at the prison convenience store were sold between 20 per cent and 60 per cent higher than supermarkets, the auditor-general found.

Considering that the store is the prisoners’ only option, as well as their financial condition, which bordered poverty, the committee had recommended a review of the system that was left to operate despite repeated warnings.

MPs asked for the system to be overhauled so that its operation would benefit prisoners only.

Set up as a cooperative limited company in 1964 by prison wardens, the store has been managed by them for decades and warnings about the goings-on started as far back as 1972.

Two wardens and a number of inmates doing a stretch in the open prison work in the store.

Despite complaints, it appears that successive governments and prison authorities have turned a blind eye.

Charalambidou said on Tuesday that the justice minister fully agreed with their positions regarding the shop.

The MP questioned why the situation was left to go on for so many years, adding that it was important that the state had finally agreed to overhaul the store’s operation.

Concerning the reserve, Charalambidou said her party’s position was to use the money on projects that would benefit inmates.

According to the auditor-general, in 1972, the finance ministry said the store should not be housed in public buildings and asked that they were abandoned within six months.

The ministry also said that employment of prison staff at the store while on duty was unacceptable.

The finance ministry repeated this in 1983.

However, the justice ministry adopted the reservations and opposing view of the prison governor at the time.

In 2014 the store paid rent amounting to €137 and €8.58 for water per month.

Despite installing a separate electricity meter, the store has never paid for electricity even though it used six commercial refrigerators, four A/C units, and seven vending machines.

The auditor’s report said prices were set by the warden working as a salesman. Basic items were marked up between 5 per cent and 10 per cent while the rest of the products yielded a profit between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.

No tenders were invited, the report said, with the job granted to suppliers of the warden’s choice.