Athens - A hunger strike by more than 3,000 inmates at 21 prisons across Greece entered its second week on Monday to protest overcrowding and lengthy pre-trial detention periods.

More than 8,000 inmates, including Athens' top-security Korydallos prison and the Alikarnassos prison on the Mediterranean island of Crete, initially launched the strike on November 3.

By the second week 3,400 inmates continued the hunger strike to protest the poor conditions at detention centers across the country.

The detainees have been drinking juice and water but have refused solid food.

Officials from the group called Initiative for Prisoners' Rights said the inmates were demanding better jail conditions, including proper medical care and restrictions on the time that detainees awaiting trial must spend behind bars.

According to the Council of Europe, detainees in Greece have to wait an average of 12 months in pre-trial detention before they go to trial, nearly three times that of other European Union states.

Prisoners are also demanding that social and political leaders be granted easier access to prisons.

Greece's prisons are among the most overcrowded in Europe with 10,983 inmates crammed into jails designed to hold just 7,543. (dpa)