They beat you or put you in solitary.
I think I'll die these two weeks.
Every day.
You make me a better person.
I feel, yeah, I am a family member.
Before, we didn't respect people.
And the violence existed in the prison.
I think, sir, it's-- it's not, uh, the time to explain this to you.
You will see for yourself.
-Yeah. - You are not in a Hilton.
You are in prison.
But you are in a place where your prospects in life count.
What is going on here today? Today we have bingo.
This is the fifth time it's taken place.
-Usually, we-- - Bingo?
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.
So all these are all female prisoners?
- Yes. - Where do they stay?
There is a different block, called Block 3,
and the ladies are in there.
Hundred percent.
So this is quite a privileged day today. You get to see the women.
Believe me, sometimes for them more.
I believe.
I didn't expect to see women inside this hall when I came in.
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.
Because they--
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.
Hundred percent it's for real.
It's the-- it's the hundredth time I saw them acting like that.
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.
When the food was not okay or not enough,
90% of the fighting was about food.
I turned my face because they were attacking me.
I turned my face, and I attacked!
This guy's blade.
Yes.
-He died. -He died.
No, it's the-- the murder.
It's a life sentence.
Before, I think my life finished, life finished.
Now I feel good.
Because there are a lot of opportunities inside.
It's not prison.
It's a rehabilitation center.
Because they are too much changing me.
Now I feel, okay, I am family member. The prison.
No matter how-- how decent everything is, you are still in prison.
This is the hard time.
We are blessed we have this woman.
Otherwise, here we'd be, I don't know.
In the United Kingdom, can you ever see the director?
- Good morning. -Good morning.
Believe me. You know, how I am…
I live in the same conditions you live.
Hello.
Hello. Hello.
Hello.
Zdravstvuyte, it's "hello."
How are you?
I am okay, thanks.
My mother.
Antonio, how do you say this?
-My grandmother is retired. - Yes.
Why.
…is it important…
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.
A lot of beautiful women are Russian.
Now we see.
I grew up in prison.
In prison, in drugs, in institutions.
I have been in this prison from 2011 until now.
Only 2017, I don't come.
- All right. -It's my lucky year.
-That's your lucky year. - Lucky year.
I take drugs from 15 years old.
I take heroin. I take cocaine. I take it all before.
I have been convicted for burglaries,
for armed robberies, for forgeries, and for…
theft.
Jewelry.
With a gun, we take what we take, and we go.
When I come, I was 16 years old.
They put me in 2B. 2B is a block for men, big men.
A 16-year-old child, with heroin withdrawal symptoms.
I was shaking!
I thought I would die these two weeks.
For the smallest thing,
they would beat you or put you in solitary. "Lock him away."
In my life, I broke two times, uh, this.
Yes. Two times.
And two times, in the prison, not from prisoners.
From officers.
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…
…get stressed.
Because I don't know what I will find outside.
Most of the guys you are seeing here are asylum seekers.
-Oh, they're asylum seekers? -They are asylum seekers here.
This is pretty incredible, Anna. Isn't it?
It's, uh, an incredible feeling.
I'm very, uh, moved.
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.
My, uh, duty as-- as a human being is to help them.
You cannot find it.
If you don't believe, you don't believe.
You are surprised.
It's first.
-You always have first time. -Yeah.
I took heroin for 15 years.
If they have, I would find it for sure.
You're gonna show Raph how we restrain, uh, inmates in a humane way.
Every day.
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.
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.
The old days are over. Now we treat them like humans.
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.
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…
I'll be facing the same issue.
I think it's an issue I will always carry with me.
Tomorrow I am getting married!
I am very happy and excited.
In another block. Another block.
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.
Thank you. Take care.
- Thank you. -Thank you. Nice to meet you.
Thank you.