The purpose of the ad hoc visit was to examine the treatment of persons held in prison and police establishments, and to evaluate the measures taken by the Romanian authorities to improve the situation since the Committee’s February 2018 visit. To this end, the CPT’s delegation visited four prisons, with a particular focus on persons held in the maximum security, closed and pre-trial regimes as well as prisoners with mental health disorders. It also visited seven police arrest detention centres and looked into the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the police. Further, the delegation had an opportunity to look into the effectiveness of investigations into allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and prison staff.
In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Stelian Cristian Ion, Minister of Justice, and Lucian Nicolae Bode, Minister of Internal Affairs as well as with Bogdan Despescu, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dan Halchin, Director General of the Penitentiary Administration and other senior officials from the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Justice. The delegation also met Gabriela Scutea, General Prosecutor attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and other senior prosecutors in Bucharest and Ploiești.
Meetings were held with members of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) within the Ombudsman’s office as well as with representatives of civil society.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Alan Mitchell, President of the CPT, Head of delegation
- Vânia Costa Ramos,
- Ifigeneia Kamtsidou,
- Philippe Mary,
- Helena Papa,
- Therese Rytter,
- Hans Wolff.
They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd, Head of Division and Julien Attuil-Kayser of the CPT's Secretariat.
The delegation visited the following establishments:
Police establishments
- Central detention facility No. 1 at Bucharest Municipal Police Headquarters
- Detention facility No. 2 at Bucharest Regional Transport Police
- County Detention facility, Câmpina
- County Detention facility, Craiova
- County Detention facility, Giurgiu
- County Detention facility, Galaţi
- County Detention facility, Târgoviște
Penitentiary establishments
- Craiova Prison
- Galaţi Prison
- Giurgiu Prison
- Mărgineni Prison
It was the Committee's twelfth visit to Romania.
