The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published today a report on its periodic visit to Italy (see also the executive summary), together with the Italian Government’s response.
The CPT notes the broad reform measures recently implemented by the Italian authorities, in the areas of prison overcrowding and forensic psychiatry and examines the living conditions of persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement and penitentiary authorities, as well as those placed in psychiatric establishments under criminal legislation. In respect of the introduction of the crime of torture into Italian criminal legislation, the Committee expresses its misgivings over the formulation of the relevant provisions, which it finds to be at odds with previous CPT recommendations, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the 1984 UN Convention on Torture.
The Committee raises its concerns over allegations of physical ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by law enforcement agencies. Material conditions are also found to be deficient at a number of State Police and Carabinieri establishments, and the CPT’s delegation made an immediate observation during the visit in respect of the persistently poor conditions in detention cells at the Florence Questura.
