Korydallos Prison Complex is the main prison of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos

Korydallos

Korydallos is a municipality in the Piraeus regional unit, Greece. It is a western suburb of Piraeus. It is the home of the Korydallos prisons. It sits on a mountain in the west named Aegaleo. It is located W of Athens, N of Piraeus and S of GR-8/E55 and Athinon Avenue.Farming used to dominate...

, Piraeus

Piraeus

Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

. Its most famous detainees are the November 17

Revolutionary Organization 17 November

Revolutionary Organization 17 November , was a Marxist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975 and believed to have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a...

 terrorist members and Colonel Nikolaos Dertilis, the last surviving member of the military junta. Korydallos prison was also used as the place for the Greek junta trials

Greek Junta Trials

The Greek Junta Trials were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the instigators of the coup as well as other junta members of various ranks who took part in the events of the Athens Polytechnic uprising and...

 in 1975. In November 1995, there was a massive riot, with inmates taking control of the prison for several days in a "battle" with prison guards and police.

Korydallos Prison attracted attention after inmate Vasilis Paleokostas escaped with a rented helicopter, twice (June 2006 and February 2009).

Conditions of detention

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 and other human rights bodies such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture

Committee for the Prevention of Torture

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment or shortly Committee for the Prevention of Torture is the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe...

 have repeatedly expressed concern about the prison for its overcrowding and inhumane treatment of detainees.

In 2007, a special committee composed of physicians of the Division of Health Inspections of the Prefecture of Piraeus

Piraeus Prefecture

Piraeus Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. It was part of the Attica region and the Athens-Piraeus super-prefecture. The capital of the prefecture was the city of Piraeus...

 and Piraeus Medical Association has reported that the hospital and the mental clinic of the prison operate without even the minimum conditions of hygiene, with aging infrastructure and big shortages in medical and nursing staff. The Hellenic Parliament

Hellenic Parliament

The Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....

 has vowed to improve conditions .
Since May 2008 the women prisoners section has been transferred to Thiva prison complex, following many years of protests and complaints to the government by the Korydallos municipality and inhabitants. Nowadays only one of the three women prison section hosts women under trial. Demolition works have commenced, for the two out of the three sections, on January 2010 and will be completed at the end of June 2010 leaving free space of 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) to be used as a park.

Notable inmates of Korydallos-past and present

Name	Details
Vassilis Palaiokostas	Bank robber and kidnapper; Convicted for the kidnapping of businessman Aléxandros Haitoglou and several bank robberies; escaped from Korydallos on 2006 with Alket Rizaj; re-captured on August 2008; escaped a second time on February 2009; currently at large.
Alket Rizaj	Albanian robber, drug smuggler and alleged contract killer; Convicted for murder; escaped from Korydallos on 2006 with Vassilis Paleokostas; re-captured on August 2008; escaped a second time on February 2009; re-captured on November 2009
Peter Sedhom	American criminal; convicted for drug-related offence and for the murder of a witness in a narcotics investigation; wanted in the United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...  for two more murders; escaped on May 2002; died from a drug overdose in Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...  on June 2008.
Níkos Palaiokostas	Bank robber and kidnapper; escaped on 1990; re-captured on September 2006; convicted for 16 bank robberies
Kostas Passaris	Armed robber and murderer; convicted for a string of armed robberies and assaults; escaped on February 2001 while being transferred to hospital, killing two policemen in the process; arrested on November 2001 in Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....  and currently jailed in Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... .
Dimitrios Ioannidis	Military officer and one of the leading figure in the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 Greek military junta of 1967-1974 The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974... . Convicted for high treason, rebellion and being an accessory to the manslaughters perpetrated during the Athens Polytechnic uprising. Died on August 2010.
George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos was the head of the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967 and leader of the military government that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Papadopoulos was a Colonel of Artillery...	Military officer and leader of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. Convicted for high treason, mutiny, torture and other crimes. Died on June 1999.
Stylianos Pattakos Stylianos Pattakos Stylianos Pattakos is a Greek military man who was one of the principals of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup d'état on April 21, 1967....	Military officer and one of the leading figure in the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Convicted for high treason and rebellion. Released in September 1990 due to "irreparable damage to his health".
Alexandros Giotopoulos Alexandros Giotopoulos Alexandros Giotopoulos is serving a sentence of life imprisonment, having been found guilty in 2003 of leading the Marxist Greek terrorist group November 17th ....	Leader of the marxist terrorist group November 17 Revolutionary Organization 17 November Revolutionary Organization 17 November , was a Marxist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975 and believed to have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a... . Convicted for being the instigator of 19 murders, robberies, bombings and involvement in November 17.
Dimitris Koufodinas	One of the leader figure of the marxist terrorist group November 17. Convicted for 11 murders, robberies, bombings and involvement in November 17.
Panagiotis Frantzis	Imprisoned for having strangled his wife to death and then having dismembered her body.
Kostas Chirvantidis	Gangster, armed robber and murderer. Currently jailed in Corfu Corfu (city) Corfu is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Corfu, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island and of the Corfu regional unit. The city also serves as a capital... .
Vassilis Stefanakos	Mobster involved in protection racket, oil and tobacco smuggling and murder. Currently detained in Larissa Larissa Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...  prison.
Panagiotis Vlastos	Mobster convicted for being the mastermind of the kidnapping of Greek businessman Periklís Panagópoulos, as well as several murders and bombings. Originally detained in Trikala Trikala Trikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala peripheral unit, and is located NW of Athens, NW, of Karditsa, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa...  prison for two murders, extorsion and other offences.
Sorin Matei	Greek-Romanian robber. On September 1998, he hold a family hostage in the Athens apartment, injuring 12 people and killing one hostage when the grenade exploded. He died in Korydallos Prison Hospital after choking on his own vomit, on September 26, 1998.
Epaminondas Korkoneas	Special Guard convicted for the murder of Aléxandros Grigorópoulos. Transferred on February 2010 to the psychiatric wing of Korydallos after he began showing signs of mental illness.
Konstantinos Voidonikolas	Businessman and nightclub owner. Said to be involved in the heist of about 25 million euros from Eurobank Ergasia in 1994. Allegedly involved in the theft of 99 treasury bonds (worth about three million euros) from the Greek National Bank. Convicted in 1999 after he shot and wounded four construction workers. He escaped on January 2000. Currently living in Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... .