More alone behind bars” “

In Europe the situation of prisons, and other structures in which people are deprived of freedom by order of the authorities (centres for immigrants, police stations, psychiatric hospitals…), “is worrying and difficult”, also because “the fear of terrorism exacerbates everything”. In the 45 countries of the Council of Europe some 1,900,000 people are deprived of freedom, a number that is constantly growing. The situations most “at risk of maltreatment” are “in police stations” and in centres for immigrants, says MAURO PALMA , Italian member of the European Committee for the prevention of torture, an organ of the Council of Europe composed of one representatives for each of its 45 member-states. The Committee draws up reports that are sent to individual governments, asking them to implement possible recommendations. How does Europe tackle the question of prisons? “In the context of the Council of Europe it is tackled as a mechanism for the protection of those deprived of freedom, given that the Council is governed by the European Convention for human rights. The task of the European Committee for the prevention of torture is to monitor the situation in all places where people are deprived of their freedom, with visits of inspection, also without prior warning. A confidential report is then sent to the governments in question that have six months to reply. Breaking the confidentiality is a kind of sanction. So far we have only used our powers of sanction on four occasions: twice in relations with Turkey, and twice with the Russian Federation. While governments can simply say that the denunciations of human rights organizations are not true, they cannot do so in response to our reports, because we have unlimited access to judicial sites and proceedings. So governments are rather more wary. After some years our reports become public. The EU, for its part, has begun what is more a kind of judicial cooperation. Only recently it began a comparative analysis of the various judicial systems”. What’s the main problem with regard to prisons in Europe? “The biggest problem in Europe is the growth of detainees and of the area of penal intervention, while the funding for social programmes is being reduced. With the growth of numbers there’s the consequence of overcrowding that reduces tolerable living conditions for detainees and social projects for their re-insertion. The risks of maltreatment concurrently increase”. What has changed as a result of the growing phenomenon of immigration? “Europe tries to cope with immigrants with the means of detention, depriving people that have committed no offence of their freedom, and with few policies to regulate immigration. Immigrants now form a third of the total of detainees, with higher numbers in the countries of more recent immigration. Other countries (Germany and France for example) are having to cope with criminality of the second generation; this is a more serious problem because it implies a rejection by the host country. The presence of so many immigrants in prisons is due to the lack of regular and legal access to countries”. You have visited many places of detention… where are the worst situations? “The main problem is maltreatment in police stations, especially in those countries in which detention without charge is very long. These are situations with a very strong risk of physical maltreatment. From the point of view of degrading and humiliating conditions, the most at risk are centres for immigrants. Here there’s a lack of communication, there’s despair, there’s overcrowding. The most difficult situations are in countries where people can be confined to these centres for an indeterminate period. But the situations of overcrowding in prisons are also creating problems of degrading conditions”. And the best situations? “There’s a better level in the countries of northern Europe, even if disaffection to their models of great social efficiency is growing. So the numbers in detention in these countries are also increasing. Moreover, whereas in the past attempts were made to promote socialization within prisons, now detainees are far more isolated”. How can the many problems of prisons be solved? “Civil society must re-appropriate prisons. Only by recognizing that prison is a problem also for those outside can the repressive character of prisons be mitigated. This can lead to greater security, because people do not re-offend if they are successfully re-inserted in society”.