Latest news with #prisonguards
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Al Arabiya
A strong bomb explosion targets a Greek prison guard's home
A bomb explosion targeted the home of the president of the Greek association of prison guards early Saturday morning in the country's north. The guard, named Konstantinos Varsamis on the association's website, was left unharmed after about 3 kilograms (about 6.6 pounds) of explosives went off at 2:10 a.m. local time, police said. Two people suffered minor injuries from shattered glass. The explosives were placed outside his apartment building's front door in Sykies, a suburb in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where he lives on the first floor, according to authorities. The blast damaged three apartment buildings, shattering their windows and collapsing a shared wall, according to an Associated Press reporter on-site. 'I woke up because of the very loud bang of the explosion,' Tzetno Kelo, 52, who lives in an adjacent apartment building, said. 'Shattered glass from a window fell on my bed, and I was covered in blood.' He was treated at a hospital before being discharged. Police said a witness saw a man walking in the densely built street shortly before the explosion. Varsamis has worked for many years at Diavata prison west of Thessaloniki, known for housing many criminal gang members as well as convicted terrorists. Two police officers said they are focusing their efforts on criminal gangs rather than terror groups. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not supposed to comment on an ongoing investigation. The police have already deposed Varsamis, they said. The police's Organized Crime Unit is leading the investigation.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Associated Press
A strong bomb explosion targets a Greek prison guard's home and wounds two
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A bomb explosion targeted the home of the president of the Greek association of prison guards early Saturday morning in the country's north. The guard, named Konstantinos Varsamis on the association's website, was left unharmed after about 3 kilograms (about 6.6 pounds) of explosives went off at 2:10 a.m. local time, police said. The explosives were placed outside his apartment building's front door in Sykies, a suburb in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where he lives on the first floor, according to authorities. The blast damaged three apartment buildings, shattering their windows and collapsing a shared wall, according to an Associated Press reporter on site. 'I woke up because of the very loud bang of the explosion,' Tzetno Kelo, 52, who lives in an adjacent apartment building, said. 'Shattered glass from a window fell on my bed and I was covered in blood.' He was treated at a hospital before being discharged Police said a witness saw a man walking in the densely built street shortly before the explosion. Varsamis has worked for many years at Diavata prison, west of Thessaloniki, known for housing many criminal gang members as well as convicted terrorists. Two police officers said they are focusing their efforts on criminal gangs rather than terror groups. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not supposed to comment on an ongoing investigation. The police have already deposed Varsamis, they said. The police's Organized Crime Unit is leading the investigation.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Washington Post
A strong bomb explosion targets a Greek prison guard's home and wounds two
THESSALONIKI, Greece — A bomb explosion targeted the home of the president of the Greek association of prison guards early Saturday morning in the country's north. The guard, named Konstantinos Varsamis on the association's website, was left unharmed after about 3 kilograms (about 6.6 pounds) of explosives went off at 2:10 a.m. local time, police said.
New York Times
23-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Supreme Court to Hear Rastafarian Prisoner's Suit Over Shaved Dreadlocks
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would decide whether a Rastafarian man may sue prison guards in Louisiana who shaved off his dreadlocks in seeming violation of an appeals court's ruling about how the state must treat members of his faith. The case concerns Damon Landor, whose faith requires him to let his hair grow long. When he started a five-month prison term for drug possession in Louisiana in 2020, his dreadlocks fell nearly to his knees. Mr. Landor was wary of the state's prison system, according to a lawsuit he later filed, and he kept a copy of a 2017 judicial decision with him. That ruling, from a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, said that Rastafarian inmates in Louisiana must be allowed to keep their dreadlocks under a 2000 federal law protecting prisoners' religious freedom. The first four months of Mr. Landor's incarceration were uneventful. Then he was transferred to the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, La. According to his lawsuit, he presented a copy of the 2017 decision to a guard, who threw it in the trash. After consulting the warden, two guards handcuffed Mr. Landor to a chair, held him down and shaved his head to the scalp. 'When I was strapped down and shaved, it felt like I was raped,' Mr. Landor said in a statement last year. 'And the guards, they just didn't care. They will treat you any kind of way. They knew better than to cut my hair, but they did it anyway.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Washington Post
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Supreme Court takes case of Rastafarian whose head was shaved by prison guards
The Supreme Court announced Monday it will take up the case of a devout Rastafarian whose head was forcibly shaved by Louisiana prison guards despite the man's religious vow not to cut his dreadlocks. Louisiana's attorney general, who is defending the state prison officials, and the lower court judges who ruled against Damon Landor all strongly condemn what happened to him in prison.
