Greece is to hire more prison guards, place barbed wire at all jails and install bulletproof windows at guard posts as part of efforts to step up security at its penitentiaries.

Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis announced on Wednesday a raft of measures in the wake of 11 prisoners escaping from Trikala jail in central Greece last week.

Authorities said yesterday that they found another two unexploded hand grenades outside the prison, where guards and the escapees’ accomplices fired hundreds of shots at each other.

He said that one of the prisons in Trikala, Domokos or Malandrino would be transformed into a maximum security jail, where hardened criminals and prisoners who had tried to escape would be interned.

Roupakiotis said that the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) would also be checking prison guards financial details for signs of anything suspicious.

Source: Kathimerini