Original subtitles

[Raphael Rowe] Nicosia Central Prison in the Republic of Cyprus.

[barks]

It once had a fearsome reputation...

[instructor] Let's go, guys.

[Rowe] ...for guard brutality.

[shouts] Yes.

They just wanted to break you.

[prisoner in Greek] They beat you or put you in solitary.

[in English] I think I'll die these two weeks.

Were prisoners physically beaten?

Every day.

[Rowe in English] But now a charismatic new director has taken over...

[chanting] We love you, Anna!

[Rowe] ...and she claims to have transformed this controversial prison.

You make me a better person.

[cheering]

What's going on here?

I'm about to spend a week locked up in a prison

unlike any I have been to before...

-What are they singing? -[singing]

They're saying "Anna, Queen of Prisons" in here. That's what they're saying.

[Rowe] ...to find out if this radical new approach

to rehabilitation really works.

You're brainwashed.

I feel, yeah, I am a family member.

[Rowe] But it's not my first time behind bars.

My name is Raphael Rowe.

I was convicted in the UK of a murder I didn't commit

and sentenced to life with no parole.

It took me 12 long years to clear my name.

Now I'm traveling the globe to discover what life is like

inside the world's toughest prisons.

[lock clicks]

Nicosia, the capital of the Republic of Cyprus.

This Mediterranean island lies close

to North Africa and the Middle East.

I'm cuffed, and I'm in the back of a prison van

on my way to Cyprus' Central Prison,

a prison that had a reputation of being one of the most brutal in Europe.

A place where they refused to allow inspectors to go into the prison

because of what used to take place there.

In the years before the new leadership took over,

there were numerous reports of serious beatings of prisoners by guards

and allegations that guards allowed younger inmates

to be raped by older inmates.

In one tragic period,

six prisoners committed suicide in less than a year.

I've heard the director has come in and reformed the place.

Prisoners are no longer being brutally beaten.

I'm gonna find out how true that is.

The new director's been in charge since late 2014,

but many of the 350 guards

were working here under the previous leadership.

[barking]

-What is your name? -[Rowe] Raphael.

[officer] We have to check with the dog. Okay?

Please follow me. Pass from the arch. Come here.

Follow me for the search.

Open your mouth.

[Rowe] How long have you been prison guards in this prison?

[officer] Me, I work here the last 17 years, and...

-[officer 2] Me, the past 28. -Twenty-eight.

It used to have a brutal regime that prisoners were often beaten.

You were here when that reputation existed.

Before, we didn't respect people.

And the violence existed in the prison.

[Rowe] And why was it like that before?

I think, sir, it's... it's not, uh, the time to explain this to you.

You will see for yourself.

Okay, let's go.

[Rowe] Before new inmates are taken to their cell,

they all go through an in-depth interview.

Have a seat, please. So, hello, my name is Nikki.

I want to welcome you here.

Um, I will be carrying out an interview.

Do you have any professional skills?

I'm a journalist.

[Nikki] Do you use any drugs or any other substances?

[Rowe] No.

-[Nikki] Do you have any talents? Hobbies? -Sport.

We have a lot of sports activities.

[Rowe] Do you go through this process with every prisoner?

With everyone, yes.

[Rowe] And what are you hoping to find out about the prisoner?

Anything that may assist us or guide us as to your needs.

The skills are going to be processed,

so you will be assigned a job later on.

And are you a regular guard, a psychologist, a social worker?

I'm just a prison officer, but I've been trained to do this,

and I also have a degree in law and criminology.

Come with me.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Rowe] I'm given a hefty supply of brand-name toiletries.

Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush, razors.

Okay. Everything you may need.

-Do all the prisoners get these? -[Nikki] Yes, of course.

[Rowe] And crisp new bedsheets.

This whole process has caught me slightly off guard.

The telephone booths are open from eight o'clock in the morning

to 8:30 in the evening, okay?

I can make a call anytime during that time?

Yes, any time, as many calls as you want, okay?

At my expense or the prison's expense?

I can give you a Telecard if you want to. Okay, I'm just gonna give you one now.

[whispers] It's crazy.

Anything you want to ask me? Anything you want to discuss?

No, thank you very much.

It sounds like, um, this place is very different

to... to what I expected when I came through the gate.

If I ignore the 20-foot concrete walls

and miles of razor wire,

I'm almost starting to feel welcome here.

[music playing]

I then encounter something

I'd normally expect to find in a hotel lobby.

There's a music-playing water fountain piano.

I mean, what's the purpose of that inside a maximum security prison?

To make the people here to feel, uh, better.

This is played all day?

-[officer] Yes. -[officer 2] It was an idea of an inmate.

[music playing]

I've been processed in a very humane way. I've been talked to in a very humane way.

I've been given goodies to go to my cell.

I'm listening to a water fountain music player.

As prisons go, this is gonna be interesting.

[music playing]

[chattering]

[Rowe] This prison holds a total of 800 inmates across 17 wings.

I'm being taken to meet my new cellmate on Wing 2A,

which holds around a hundred prisoners.

-[officer 2] Hello, Phaethon. -Hello.

-[Rowe] Hello. -[officer 2] This is Raph.

-This is Phaethon. He's your roommate. -Raph, nice to meet you. Phaethon.

[officer] This will be your cell.

[Rowe] Okay.

This is Phaethon. He's done two stints in this prison.

The first was for armed robbery,

and he's currently serving eight years for fraud.

Okay, so I'm inside the cell now.

-[Phaethon] Yeah. -This is our cell.

-Yeah. -[Phaethon] You are not in a Hilton.

You are in prison.

But you are in a place where your prospects in life count.

I'm slightly disorientated by the whole processing.

The way the guards welcomed me kind of disarmed me.

You know, you're coming into prison, you think, "Right." [huffs]

And then I see the... the music-playing fountain and stuff.

It's... it's kind of made me scratch my head and think,

"What's going on here?"

This is how it works here. The director's philosophy,

the... the culture and the changes she passed for the last years,

because I've been here... My second time in prison, to be honest with you.

So what was your first prison sentence? What year was that?

2008, April, to the end of the year 2011.

They said in that period that lots of prisoners

were beaten by the prison officers. Is that true?

It is true. It is true.

And, uh, I'm not happy to say that,

because more or less, the staff was the same.

Less water, less food, more punishment.

They just wanted to break you.

I saw a person in my room hang.

-[Rowe] You saw someone hang? -I saw him hang. He was a Persian guy.

He served five and a half years.

He lost his mind, and we find him in the morning like this.

-Hanging. -Hanging.

-[Rowe] Killed himself. -Just like two rooms just next to me.

[Rowe] So he was one of the six who committed suicide.

One of the six, yes. Terrible.

[Rowe] It's been so interesting meeting my cellmate.

Seems like a really nice guy, and he's made me feel very welcome.

You know, he's a guy who was here when this place was brutal.

But what's so interesting is that the prison guards

that used to beat prisoners are still here,

and he will be looking in the eyes of those guards

that used to beat up either him or treat him like shit.

How he gets on with them now is gonna be really interesting,

because I could never forgive a prison officer

who beat the fuck out of me just because he could,

just because I was vulnerable.

And that happened to me many times in prison.

But you don't forget, because those kinds of things,

they leave physical, mental scars.

[doors clanking]

Inmates here are released from their cells at 6:00 a.m.

and are allowed outside their blocks at seven.

They can roam the grounds freely until five in the afternoon.

I'm just trying to get my head around what this place is really like.

None of the prisoners here are wearing uniform.

When you're processed, you're often given a uniform.

Your identity would be left at the gate.

But here, the prisoners have their own clothes, so they can,

to some extent, keep their own identity.

And that's a deliberate design to humanize.

That's not me underestimating that there are very dangerous men in here,

as well as petty thieves, drug addicts.

You know, the place is full of all types of criminals,

and it still remains a maximum security prison.

As the inmates are permitted a lot of time outdoors,

I was expecting to see more people about,

but I'm told it's a special afternoon.

Now, what... what is going on in here today?

[Phaethon] What is going on here today? Today we have bingo.

This is the fifth time it's taken place.

-Usually, we... -[Rowe] Bingo?

[Phaethon] Bingo.

There is bingo, believe it or not.

It is for us and also the ladies that are in prison as well.

I can follow. Please enter.

[caller speaking Greek]

[caller in English] Seventy-three.

[caller speaking Greek]

[caller in English] Seventy-three.

Seventy-five. We have a winner.

[cheering]

[Rowe] So all these are all female prisoners?

-[Phaethon] Yes. -[Rowe] Where do they stay?

There is a different block, called Block 3,

and the ladies are in there.

And do they keep the women separate from the guys?

Hundred percent.

[Rowe] So this is quite a privileged day today. You get to see the women.

Believe me, sometimes for them more.

-[laughing] -I believe.

[caller speaking Greek]

[in English] Twenty-three.

I didn't expect to see women inside this hall when I came in.

Let me just check my number, just in case I'm on to a winner.

I'm playing bingo inside the prison.

They can win prizes, mattresses, bed covers, sweets and other gifts,

including a flat TV.

But, um, I've never seen anything like this before.

[cheering]

[Rowe] I'm told the new arrival is the prison director,

Anna Aristotelous.

It's the first time I've seen her.

[prisoners chanting]

[Rowe] She's been in charge for the last eight years,

and she's clearly made a big impression on the inmates.

[chanting]

-[cheering] -We love you, Anna!

Quite a strange reception, man. Why they love her so much?

-[prisoner] Because they... -[chattering]

She helps them so much.

They come here from the Congo.

They don't have outside to eat.

They come here. They find food, breakfast, dinner,

everything, gym, clothes, shoes.

[Rowe] The chanting is mostly coming from illegal migrants

locked up for entering Cyprus without papers.

I've just never seen anyone show appreciation to a governor

or a director of a prison before.

[chanting] We love you, Anna! We love you, Anna!

We love you, Anna! We love you, Anna!

[chanting continues]

You are all in my heart.

I would like to welcome you in today's event.

Uh, and first, above all, I want to thank you for your ethos,

for your character,

and every... every moment, uh, you move me by your actions.

[prisoners applauding]

-[cheering] -[whistling]

Do you think it's all real? These guys are reacting because they...

[Phaethon] Hundred percent it's for real.

Hundred percent.

It's the... it's the hundredth time I saw them acting like that.

[Rowe] And what about the Cypriots? Are they reacting the same way?

We will say hi. We will stand up. We will shake hands.

Because they know how she is, she is very open.

You make me a better person.

[prisoners cheering]

[Rowe] At first, I thought when she came in

and there was this huge cheer from everyone

and then this breakout celebration, that it was a bit of a setup.

You know, is this something for show?

[chanting]

[Rowe] It's so surreal. It's bizarre.

I'm looking forward to meeting her at some point.

-[chanting] -[shouting]

[Rowe] The director appears to run a very informal regime here,

but I haven't yet seen if this relaxed approach

will work with the most serious offenders.

[prisoners chattering]

-Thank you. -[man speaks Greek]

The food is good here, right? I mean, this is...

[Phaethon] When the food was not okay or not enough,

90% of the fighting was about food.

And they say a hungry man is an angry man.

-It's true. -[Rowe] It's true, right?

-What do you think about the food? -It's good.

It's good?

The guy sat next to me is Lovepreet, from India.

He came to Cyprus to work on a farm,

but he got into a street fight which ended in death.

I turned my face because they were attacking me.

I turned my face, and I attacked!

And what did you have in your hand?

This guy's blade.

The knife. Did the man die?

Yes.

-He died. -He died.

So, was you tried for manslaughter or murder?

No, it's the... the murder.

And what prison sentence did they give you?

It's a life sentence.

-Life sentence? -Yeah.

How do you feel?

Before, I think my life finished, life finished.

Now I feel good.

Because there are a lot of opportunities inside.

There's not many people I meet who say, "Prison is good."

You know? I mean, you don't want to be here, but...

It's not prison.

It's not prison. It's a rehabilitation center.

Because they are too much changing me.

What about the, um, the relationship

between the prisoners and the prison staff?

Now I feel, okay, I am family member. The prison.

[Rowe] Lovepreet, a convicted murderer,

lives in the same relaxed regime as the general population.

And at times during my short stay here,

it's been easy to forget I'm in a max security prison at all.

When I was sat in the bingo hall,

listening to the guys and the girls cheering,

participating in the game of bingo,

I kept looking at some of the faces and thinking,

"You're gonna leave here. You're not gonna go home to your family."

"You're not gonna go for a beer. You're gonna go to a cell."

No matter how... how decent everything is, you are still in prison.

This is the hard time.

[prisoners chattering]

-How are you doing? You all right? -[prisoner] Yeah.

-Konstantinos. Raphael. -Yeah.

Yeah. And it's Konstantinos.

-Yeah. -You're the chef, right?

Yeah. [chuckles]

[Rowe] Konstantinos lives on my block.

He's serving 12 years,

and he soon starts singing the praises of the prison director.

We are blessed we have this woman.

-Otherwise, here we'd be, I don't know. -[chuckles]

[Rowe] Does she come out here often to meet prisoners? All the time?

[Konstantinos] All the time.

[Rowe] I did 12 years in some pretty tough prisons in the UK,

where the director was authoritarian and hated by the inmates.

[Konstantinos] In the United Kingdom, can you ever see the director?

[scoffs] Only when I was up for punishment.

[Konstantinos] We can say anything to her, you know?

-You can talk to her anytime? -[Konstantinos] Yeah.

[Rowe] Right.

-[Konstantinos in Greek] Good morning. -Good morning.

[in English] Hi, Raphael. How are you doing? Good day.

I'm Anna, the director of prisons.

[Rowe] Yeah, I've heard a lot about Anna.

[Anna Aristotelous] You settled okay? Everything's okay?

[Rowe] Is that possible, to settle in a prison?

[Aristotelous] I want you to be comfortable.

I read your, uh, your interview.

-[Rowe] Okay. -Yeah.

I know that you are interested in sports.

-Okay. Do you do that for all prisoners? -[Aristotelous] Of course, yes.

We want them to feel, uh, happy.

-Is that possible in prison? -[Aristotelous] It's very difficult.

But at least we create conditions

similar to the conditions in the outside world.

[Rowe] Mm-hmm.

We have the same educational system as the free society.

-What language do you speak? -English, just about.

You can, uh, attend lessons in, uh, Greek or Russian.

[Rowe] And what do you expect in return?

What we expect in return. This is very good question.

Uh, we... uh, we help people to develop,

to change, to reform

and to successfully reintegrate into society.

Is it mandatory that I attend a workshop or find a job?

What happens if I don't conform?

We will have, uh, sessions with you to see what is the problem.

At the end, believe me, that, uh, you'll participate in sports.

You'll participate at schools.

You are a bit skeptical.

It's, uh, usual, you know?

But the thing is, is that I'm not used to this kind of environment.

My experience of prison is confrontation.

My experience of prison is that the director,

the guards are dishonest. They're deceitful.

They're manipulative. They're brutal.

Yesterday, when I was privileged to go to bingo,

you spoke very passionately to the guys and the girls that were in there

about them believing in themself.

It felt a little bit politics.

You could have been on a stage talking to... to people outside.

-[Aristotelous] I'm not a politician. -You are a politician.

This is what I feel.

-[Rowe] Ah! -I like what I'm doing. I'm doing it.

And if you like what you are doing, you're doing it with passion.

-This is the reality of our prison. -[Rowe] Hmm.

And you believe it. I tell you, this is extremely.

I... believe me, I... I was surprised.

You're brainwashed. You're... you're really brainwashed.

Believe me. You know, how I am...

I live in the same conditions you live.

Well, I do appreciate you coming and spending your time

telling me what... what happens here.

Nice to meet you too.

-Thank you. Bye-bye. -Bye-bye.

[Konstantinos] Bye-bye.

[Rowe] Before she took over the prison, the director was a lawyer

specializing in criminal and human rights law.

She then worked for the Ministry of Justice,

drafting prison reforms, before she got the chance

to put her theories into practice.

I'm still trying to discover what this place is about.

The way the prisoners are constantly championing the director.

They burst into celebration when they see her.

They shake her hand, you know, like she is some godly figure.

I'm not sure whether it's genuine

or whether it's just because they want something.

You know, be on the good side of the director

and you get more than somebody else.

There's still a lot to discover.

There seems to be a big push to get inmates into education here,

so I want to see if they're actually turning up

and embracing the chance to learn.

Lessons range from basic literacy to university degrees.

[instructor in Russian] Hello.

[Rowe in English] I'm trying beginners Russian.

[in Russian] Hello. Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

[Rowe in English] What does that say?

Zdravstvuyte, it's "hello."

[in Russian] How are you?

[whispers]

I am okay, thanks.

[instructor laughs]

[Rowe in English] The guy helping me out is 27-year-old Antonio.

Why are you learning Russian? Do you have family who are Russian?

My mother.

Your mother is Russian.

[instructor in Russian] Antonio, how do you say this?

-My grandmother is retired. -[instructor] Yes.

[Rowe in English] Participation in these sorts of classes

are often seen as an excuse for prisoners

to get out of their cell just for a few hours,

so they come and waste time here.

They don't need to get out of their cells 'cause they're allowed out,

so they make a conscious decision to come.

A cynic might say,

"They're just doing it because it gives them brownie points."

You only have to look around.

You can see how engaged they are with the class.

Why is it...

-[in Russian] Why. -[Rowe repeats]

[in English] ...is it important...

[in Russian] ...is it important...

[in English] ...to learn Russian in a Cypriot prison?

They start to come, Russian people, here in Cyprus,

to start to open job here.

So, uh, for us is very good to learn, uh, Russian.

[Rowe] Hmm.

A lot of beautiful women are Russian.

[laughing]

Now I know, right? Now, yes, now I know.

Now we see.

[Rowe] The drive to get inmates into school is working.

Seventy-five percent attend lessons.

I find out my classmate Antonio is on the same wing as me,

and he knows this prison very well.

[in Greek] I grew up in prison.

In prison, in drugs, in institutions.

[in English] I have been in this prison from 2011 until now.

Only 2017, I don't come.

-[Rowe] All right. -It's my lucky year.

-That's your lucky year. -[Antonio] Lucky year.

Why are you always in and out? What... what drives your criminality?

I take drugs from 15 years old.

I take heroin. I take cocaine. I take it all before.

[in Greek] I have been convicted for burglaries,

for armed robberies, for forgeries, and for...

theft.

[in English] You commit crime to support your heroin habit?

[Antonio] Yes.

[Rowe] The sentence that you're in prison for now,

is that for robbery as well?

-Now? Yes. -[Rowe] Yes.

What kind of robbery? Bank? Street?

[Antonio] Jewelry.

With a gun, we take what we take, and we go.

You was here in 2011 when it was a completely different place.

When I come, I was 16 years old.

They put me in 2B. 2B is a block for men, big men.

[in Greek] A 16-year-old child, with heroin withdrawal symptoms.

I was shaking!

[in English] I thought I would die these two weeks.

You served time here when the guards used to treat prisoners really badly.

[in Greek] For the smallest thing,

they would beat you or put you in solitary. "Lock him away."

[in English] In my life, I broke two times, uh, this.

[Rowe] Your ribs.

Yes. Two times.

And two times, in the prison, not from prisoners.

From officers.

[Rowe] Antonio tells me he's been off drugs

inside prison for the last two years,

and he's getting out in less than three months.

And what do you think will happen this time when you get out?

I don't think nothing for out.

And when it comes time to get out, I start to think.

I start to think, and I...

[in Greek] ...get stressed.

[in English] Because I don't know what I will find outside.

[Rowe] Antonio, he's a career criminal.

He's been at it since he was 15, 16 years old.

He's a guy who goes out there and causes mayhem

using weapons to commit robberies.

He comes to prison.

He's given a therapy to kick his drug habit,

but the moment he walks out that gate,

whatever support has been given to him here,

he's been incapable of breaking that cycle of crime and addiction.

And it's a big challenge for men like him,

and it's an even a bigger challenge for the prison,

because they do what they do, they send him out,

and he ends up going straight back.

[prisoners singing]

[singing]

[Rowe] I've spent enough time in this prison

to know what this sound means.

[singing continues]

[Rowe] The director is on the wing,

and I'm still trying to work out if these displays are for real.

[singing]

Most of the guys you are seeing here are asylum seekers.

-Oh, they're asylum seekers? -They are asylum seekers here.

[Rowe] Any person arriving illegally in Cyprus

can be locked up for up to a year.

There's around 300 illegal migrants and asylum seekers in this prison.

Why are they so excited about seeing the director?

It's, uh... I believe it's because of the treatment she's giving us.

I, as a person, I call it VIP treatment, you know. [laughs]

Yeah, we are in a prison, but, uh, she don't treat us as prisoners.

[Rowe] Are you an asylum seeker as well?

I'm an asylum seeker. I'm from Cameroon.

What are they singing? What are they saying in the song?

They're saying, "Anna, Queen of Prison."

-[Rowe] Anna, Queen of Prison. -Yeah, that's what they are saying.

[Rowe] Do you think she does it because she cares

or it's a way of controlling you?

Because if you know she's being good to you,

you're not gonna give her a problem or make problems in the prison.

No, she's not doing that in a way of controlling us.

Someone that is going to look for a better life is not a criminal.

[singing]

[Rowe] This is pretty incredible, Anna. Isn't it?

It's, uh, an incredible feeling.

I'm very, uh, moved.

Why? Why do they do this?

These people should not be in prison, uh, for illegal migration.

I think that they should be treated as an administrative measure,

and not as an offense, uh, and punishment by imprisonment.

But you believe that, that the law should change?

Yes, uh, I strongly believe that.

My, uh, duty as... as a human being is to help them.

[singing]

[Rowe] The director isn't just working for these inmates inside prison.

She's also challenging the government to change the law

that criminalizes migrants and refugees.

But I want to see what the director is doing to actually reform inmates.

Paid employment is key to the approach to rehabilitation here.

Prisoners work as cleaners, chefs and groundsmen,

as well as more skilled trades.

They have lots of different workshops in this prison, I'm told,

and I'm gonna meet a guy in one of the workshops

to find out what he does here.

Mario, how are you doing? I'm Raphael.

-[Mario] Hello. Nice too meet you. -What do you?

Here we do, uh, bookbinding.

We do 95% of the governmental bookbinding.

Oh, you bind these books for parliament?

[Mario] Yes, for parliament, for police.

-Would you like to see some? -Yeah, come on then.

Mario's originally from Lebanon.

He's nine months into a 25-month sentence.

-So you've not been to prison before? -No, it's my first time.

How are you coping?

I was really nervous before I came here, to be honest.

[Rowe] What was you expecting?

To come and get the shit beaten out of you?

Exactly. And it's gonna be... Yeah, like, you know, somebody in control.

-And you're gonna be the little one. -Yeah.

What... what did you get 25 months for?

Well, I'd been caught with a pistol, some ammunition and, uh, some narcotics.

-Narcotics to sell or personal use? -No, personal use.

It's quite a serious offense for the first time, isn't it, carrying a gun?

Narcotics, little bit of personal. Well, people can suffer that.

Having a firearm, that is a killing weapon,

so that is serious.

-Isn't it? -Yeah, it is.

[Rowe] So, how does this help you?

This is taking all my energy, because I wake up in the morning,

I know I have to come here, learn something new.

It... it really helps. It's... You feel...

You don't really feel you're locked in, in prison.

I... I used to use, um, drugs.

-Oh, right. Okay. -This environment really, really helps.

I have a family, and I was not thinking

uh, the way I'm thinking while I'm inside here.

Maybe I wasn't thinking if I'm gonna lose my family, you know?

Now here, while I'm here,

I really think, like, I kind of lost my family.

Now, I can't wait to go meet my daughter now.

Once you lose something, you know the value.

You understand yourself in prison. You discover yourself here.

[Rowe] To some, this might seem like a cushy job for an inmate,

but the nurturing environment here

clearly is helping Mario focus on his rehabilitation.

Inmates are confined to their blocks from 5:00 p.m.

In many prisons, this is when they turn to drugs

to get them through the long nights behind bars.

[Rowe] My move or your move?

-[Mario] My move. -Oh, you're thinking hard.

I want to find out if prisoners with a history of drug abuse

are ever tempted.

[Rowe] If I was using drugs, could I get drugs in here?

You will not find heroin. You will not find cocaine.

You will not find grass in here.

[Rowe] All prisons have drugs.

[Antonio] You cannot find it.

[Rowe] I don't believe that.

[Antonio] If you don't believe, you don't believe.

[splutters] I'm not saying...

[Antonio] You are surprised.

[Rowe] I'm surprised.

It's first.

-You always have first time. -Yeah.

[Antonio] I took heroin for 15 years.

If they have, I would find it for sure.

I'm gonna be honest. I... I tried to find something.

I-I've asked.

I try nine months. I did not find anything.

It's impossible. Impossible.

[Rowe] They're telling me that this is a drug-free prison.

I was really surprised to hear that.

What I will say is normally when you're in a prison,

you get a sense that there are drugs.

You get a... a smell.

You get a... a feeling that there is something going on,

even if everybody's trying to hide it from you.

[inhales] And I've not had that feeling here.

There is lots of talk about guards not being corrupted anymore,

and where, once upon a time,

they used to bring contraband into the prison, including drugs.

But that's been eradicated.

Is this really the world's only drug-free prison?

If that's true, that's truly impressive, what's going on here.

[doors opening]

[Rowe] During my time here,

the relaxed relationship between prisoners and guards has surprised me.

But before the current director took over in 2014,

the prison was notorious for allegations

of guard violence against inmates.

It was so bad here that prisoners even committed suicide,

and a lot of the same guards still work here now.

One of the first things the director decided to change

was the mentality of her staff.

She built a new guard academy

and boosted the annual training budget

from just 6,000 euros to 100,000.

You're gonna show Raph how we restrain, uh, inmates in a humane way.

[Rowe] Instructor Alexandros heads up the program.

What would be the first thing that you do?

Always the first step is just to avoid, uh, a fight.

So if I'm coming at you, I'm abusing you. "You fucking this. You fucking..."

-Don't want you to do anything. I'm angry. -I try to calm you, all right?

So then I will try with his weight to show you

that I... I am bigger and stronger than you.

-So let's go together, together, together. -[grunts]

Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly. Hey, hey, calm down, calm down, calm down.

Calm down. It's not your fault.

-It's nothing to do with me and you, okay? -Okay.

-It's over, okay? Are you okay? -Okay.

-Yeah, yeah. Okay. -[chuckles] Let's go. Let's have a coffee.

[chuckles] I don't know about a coffee or anything, but brandy or a rum.

Guards are now trained to overpower aggressive prisoners

without hurting them.

So, try to attack me.

All right. Okay. Let's go, guys.

-Try. Okay. Yes. -[Rowe grunts]

[grunting]

-Okay. -Relax.

[Alexandros] Yes. Relax. Easy.

-Easy. -[instructor] Yeah.

-Okay? -Okay.

[Alexandros] But I will...

-I want to ask you something, okay? -[Rowe] Yeah?

-You feel pain now? -[Rowe] No, no, no.

This is the point.

That was interesting, because generally,

when you're restraining someone, you're normally saying,

"Get fucking down! Don't you fucking do that!"

You weren't doing that. You were saying, "It's not between me and you,"

and you were kind of trying to pacify me verbally.

It's nothing to do with me and you, all right?

I try to put in your mind that you have to stop now.

There's... there's no reason to fight.

[Rowe] A lot of new guards have been hired and trained with this humane approach,

but Panagiotis has worked here for nearly 30 years

so has experience under former regimes.

Were prisoners ill-treated, beaten for no reason?

Every day.

[in Greek] Some were treated like slaves by the guards.

The idea was if he's in prison, he needs to be punished.

He needs to accept a beating.

This resulted in prisoners committing suicide.

Suicides were a natural consequence.

[in English] How did they change your way of thinking and approach

to dealing with prisoners?

[in Greek] The new director came in

and she tells you one word.

Only one word. Human.

She instilled into the staff

that they're dealing with human beings, not with animals.

The director made me cry for a prisoner.

If you told me 28 years ago

that I'd cry for a prisoner, I wouldn't have believed it.

[Rowe in English] Prisoners who may have been here

under the old regime are still here.

Do you find those dynamics quite tricky to navigate?

[in Greek] The old days are over. Now we treat them like humans.

[Rowe in English] The prison's director claims her reforms

are changing prisoners for the better,

and that on her watch,

there has been a huge drop in the re-offending rate.

-[chattering] -[laughing]

[Rowe] I'm checking in with Antonio,

who's been in and out of prison his whole adult life.

His criminality is driven by addiction,

and he has regular drug counseling sessions to help him.

[counselor in Greek] Imprisonment will end sooner or later,

and the most important thing is what happens next.

What troubles you?

Due to the fact that I did time at a young age

and I was also a drug addict,

I've joined several programs and I am still stigmatized.

-Mm-hmm. -In here, we're fine.

We're clean, and we're good.

-But out there? -Mm-hmm.

Society does not treat us like that.

[Rowe in English] In just a few weeks, Antonio will be released.

But there's such a safe drug-free environment here,

it's almost as if he doesn't want to leave.

[in Greek] I don't know what happens when I get out.

-Mm-hmm. At the same time though... -And that's what stresses me out more.

I will try to stay clean as I have been for so long.

And the best thing I can think of to escape this is

grabbing my passport and getting out of here.

Yes, but wherever you go, you'll be facing...

[Antonio] I'll be facing the same issue.

I think it's an issue I will always carry with me.

[Rowe in English] The prison are doing as much as they can

through these drug therapy sessions to change his way of life.

The question is whether they get the same support when they leave prison,

and I'm told that they don't.

When he gets to the gate and he's released,

he almost goes back to square one, and that's quite sad.

Hopefully, this might be the last time,

but not even he can answer that question right now.

One remarkable thing about this prison

is the regular opportunities for male and female inmates to socialize.

[Greek music playing]

These prisoners are learning traditional Cypriot dancing.

The lady brave enough to witness my moves is called Georgia.

[shouting]

[Rowe] And she's got a good reason for all the practice.

[in Greek] Tomorrow I am getting married!

I am very happy and excited.

-[in English] Getting married? -[Georgia] Yes.

[Rowe] Congratulations.

Is your fiancé...

In another block. Another block.

-Oh, getting married to another prisoner? -Yes.

[in Greek] We were arrested for theft.

We stole to feed our addiction, and we ended up here.

It's been two years that we've been together.

We decided to get married.

You are welcome to come as well.

[in English] Thank you so much for inviting me to... to your wedding.

Congratulations. And I will accept your invite.

[in Greek] Thank you. Take care.

-[Rowe in English] Thank you. -Thank you. Nice to meet you.

[both] Thank you.

[Rowe] There is a female section in this prison.

They are separated from the male population,

but in these social events, they get to have normal conversations,

and that can only be a good thing for when they get out,

so they don't feel completely alienated from the opposite sex.

And that's one of the key philosophies here,

that their human rights and their ability to live their lives normally

within the confines of a prison shouldn't be taken away from them.

[doors clanking]

It's my last day here

and time to say goodbye to my cellmate Phaethon.

I want to find out if this prison's approach has had a lasting impact on him.

What... what does your future hold then?

Because you've spoken to me quite highly about how this prison

is trying to change people.

But there will come a day when you have to pack your bags

and you will leave here.

Because of the culture of the prison, which helped me,

whatever is taking place in here is helping you.

You realize that simple things matter.

Family, friends, a walk at the beach, having an ice cream.

Maybe with not, uh, 100,000 in your... in the bank account.

It sounds to me that you just want a normal life.

-Exactly... -[Rowe] You had a particular lifestyle...

Yes.

Can you put your hand on your heart... [gulps]

...and say that you'll never come back to prison?

[Phaethon] Uh, it's the only time I can do it.

I wouldn't do it for all the millions of the world.

But you think this time when you go out, you won't come back?

I believe it.

[Rowe] You never know for sure,

but I can believe Phaethon really has turned the corner for good.

[wedding music playing]

[singing]

[Rowe] Georgia's wedding is the 20th inside the prison

since the director took charge.

And she's tying the knot in the prison's Greek Orthodox chapel.

There's... there's definitely a buzz in the air.

It's a kind of Bonnie and Clyde moment, but it's... it's an exciting moment.

Two people getting married in prison.

[singing]

[Rowe] This is the, um, the first Orthodox wedding I've ever been to.

It's also the first wedding I've ever been to inside a prison.

Prison normally breaks love.

Prison normally breaks up the love between two people.

But on this occasion, it's brought two people together.

-[cheering] -[laughing]

[Rowe] Demetrius, congratulations. Good Luck.

-Hello. -[Rowe] Congratulations.

-How are you? -[Rowe] I'm very well.

Enjoy the rest of your life, whatever happens next, okay?

Thank you.

So, Raph, you see how we do things here?

-Yeah? What do you think? -It's unusual.

I mean, some people would say that the inmates have it too good here.

And they're not being punished in the way

their victims would expect them to be punished.

What do you say to those people?

Well, uh, if the protection and the safeguarding of human rights,

uh, a humane approach to human beings is a soft approach,

then it will have a soft approach.

We've seen the results, uh, of the punitive systems,

uh, when there were, uh, serious violations of human rights,

when there were six suicides in ten months.

[Rowe] When you talk about human rights, what about the... the victims,

the people that believe that when people have committed a crime,

they should be punished?

I think that, uh, society needs reformation.

We say that, uh, this... the people in, uh, in prisons should change.

I see them change.

I see them develop, become better persons

and, uh, ready to reintegrate successfully, uh, in the society.

How do you define your success?

The results, uh, can be seen from re-offending rate,

uh, which dropped to 15%,

whereas previously, it was more than, uh, 50%

where the punitive system flourished.

Can you define one thing that you do here

that you really believe changes the mindset and the outlook of prisoners

so that they won't go out of here and re-offend?

Strong moral values.

Like, uh, integrity, fairness,

respect, communication,

love and support.

And believe me, this is an incredible feeling to work with these, uh, people,

to see them develop, change,

reintegrate into... into society

and become responsible, law-abiding, uh, citizens.

When I first came into this prison,

I was skeptical about how they do things here,

but the director's revolutionary approach to rehabilitation,

where punitive methods have been replaced by a more humane regime,

seems to be working.

Not everyone will agree, and that's understandable,

but in my experience, what they're doing in this prison

is really helping inmates to reform.

[theme music playing]