The Council of Europe’s Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(CPT) has published today the report on its fifth periodic visit to Italy, carried out from 14 to 26 September 2008, together with the response of the Italian Government. These documents have been made public at the request of the Italian authorities.
[wcd.coe.int] As concerns the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials,
the report states that the CPT’s delegation received a number of
allegations of physical ill-treatment and/or excessive use of force by
police and Carabinieri officers and, to a lesser extent, by officers of
the Guardia di Finanza, particularly in the Brescia area. The alleged
ill-treatment consisted mainly of punches, kicks, or blows with batons,
at the time of apprehension and, on occasion, during custody in a law
enforcement establishment. In a number of cases, the delegation found
medical evidence consistent with the allegations made. The report
assesses the procedural safeguards against ill-treatment and concludes
that further action is required in order to bring the law and practice
in this area into line with the CPT’s standards. In their response, the
Italian authorities state that specific directives have been issued to
prevent and sanction inappropriate aggressive behaviour of law
enforcement officials. Further, the authorities provide information on
the points raised by the CPT as regards procedural safeguards against
ill-treatment.
The conditions of detention at the Identification and Expulsion Centre in Milan, Via Corelli
(CEI) were also examined. The CPT recommends, inter alia, that
irregular migrants held there be offered a greater number and broader
range of activities
On prison matters, the Committee’s delegation focused on
overcrowding, prison health care (responsibility for which has now been
transferred to the regions) and the treatment of prisoners who are
subject to a maximum security regime (“41-bis”). The CPT was very
concerned by the level of inter-prisoner violence at Brescia-Mombello
and Cagliari-Buoncammino Prisons, where episodes of inter-prisoner
violence in the course of 2008 had resulted in serious injuries and, in
one case, the death of a prisoner. In addition, a number of allegations
were received at Cagliari that staff did not always intervene promptly
when violence between prisoners occurred.
In their response, the Italian authorities have stated that the
Directorate General for Prisons has called upon the Brescia and
Cagliari prisons to adopt the necessary measures to counter
inter-prisoner violence. Further, they have stated that since autumn
2008, episodes of violence have decreased as a result of a Convention
entered into between Cagliari Prison and Caritas (a Catholic relief,
development and social service organisation).
As regards the Filippo Saporito judicial psychiatric hospital (OPG)
in Aversa, the report draws attention to the poor material conditions
and the need to improve the patients‘ daily regime, by increasing the
number and variety of day-to-day activities offered to patients.
Further, the delegation found that certain patients were detained in
the OPG for longer than their condition required and that others were
held in the hospital even when
their placement order had expired. In their response the Italian
authorities state that the hospital is in the process of being
renovated and that the law does not establish a maximum duration for
the temporary enforcement of a security measure.
As regards the Psychiatric diagnosis and Treatment Department (SPDC)
at San Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Naples, the delegation focused on the
involuntary medical treatment of patients. The Committee recommends
that the judicial phase of the involuntary medical treatment procedure
(TSO) be improved
The CPT’s report and the response of the Italian Government are available in English on the Committee’s website (http://www.cpt.coe.int).
Source: https://wcd.coe.int
