In the course of the visit, the delegation examined the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police as well as the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in prison, foreign nationals detained pursuant to aliens’ legislation and psychiatric patients. Particular attention was paid to the measures taken by the authorities to implement recommendations made by the Committee after its previous visits, including as regards the practical implementation of the legal safeguards against ill-treatment of persons in police custody, the carceral material conditions and prison-like regime at the Ellebaek centre for persons detained pursuant to aliens legislation, the material conditions (especially access to a toilet) in prisons and the restrictive regimes for remand prisoners and other inmates subjected to segregation or solitary confinement, the health care services for prisoners and the recourse to mechanical restraint (fixation) in prisons and psychiatric establishments.
In the course of the visit, the delegation had consultations with Carsten Madsen, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Andreas Jull Sørensen, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior and Health, Christina Fløystrup, Head of Division for Return and Readmission at the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, as well as with other senior officials from the above-mentioned Ministries.
Further, the delegation met Niels Fenger, Parliamentary Ombudsman, in his capacity as the Danish National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). It also met representatives of several non-governmental organisations active in areas of concern to the CPT.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Danish authorities.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Vânia Costa Ramos (Head of Delegation)
- Gergely Fliegauf
- Marie Kmecovà
- Asbjørn Rachlew
- Elsa Bára Traustadòttir
- Elisabetta Zamparutti.
They were supported by Borys Wodz (Head of Division), Monica Martinez and Almut Schröder from the CPT’s Secretariat, and were assisted by two experts: Pétur Hauksson, psychiatrist, former Head of the Psychiatric Department at Reykjalundur Rehabilitation Centre (Iceland), and Veronica Pimenoff psychiatrist, former Head of Department at Helsinki University Psychiatric Hospital (Finland).
The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:
Police establishments
- Aarhus Police Headquarters
- Albertslund Police Headquarters
- Bellahøj Police Station (Copenhagen)
- Horsens Police Headquarters
- Odense Police Headquarters
Prisons
- Western Prison, Copenhagen
- Police Square Prison (Polititorvets Arrest), Copenhagen
- Nyborg Prison
- Enner Mark Prison, Horsens
Psychiatric establishments
- Midtjylland Psychiatric Hospital
- Psychiatric Centre Glostrup
Establishments for detained migrants
- Ellebæk Centre for Foreigners