Repatriation hubs in Italy unsuitable says Council of Europe

Rome: The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) criticized in a dossier published on Friday the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals held at pre-removal centres (CPRs) in Italy.

The CPT’s findings included “very poor material conditions, the absence of a regime of activities, the disproportionate security approach, the variable quality of healthcare provision and the lack of transparency of the management of CPRs by private contractors”, “calling into question” the application of such a model by Italy in an extra-territorial setting, such as in Albania, the report noted.

The dossier was compiled after visits carried out by CPT officials between April 2 and 12 this year at four out of Italy’s nine CPRs, including the pre-removal centres in Via Corelli in Milan, Gradisca d’Isonzo, Palazzo San Gervasio in Potenza and Ponte Galeria in Rome.

The CPT said it “found several cases of alleged physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police officers of foreign nationals detained in the CPRs visited”, usually following a “disturbance or act of vandalism in the centres”.

The dossier also highlighted “the absence of any rigorous and independent monitoring of such interventions by the police and the lack of accurate recording of injuries sustained by detained persons or of any assessment as to their origin”.

The Committee also criticized what it described as “the widespread practice” of administering “unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water” to migrants held at the centres that it “documented at the Potenza CPR”.

Moreover, it denounced “the practice of transporting foreign nationals to a CPR while handcuffed in a police vehicle without being offered food and water during journeys of several hours”, saying it “should be reviewed”.

Overall, the CPT said it was “highly critical of the physical layout and design of CPRs and in particular the carceral environment, which could be considered as similar to those observed by the Committee in the detention units accommodating prisoners under special regime”, citing as examples ” triple metal mesh screens on windows, and cage-like outdoor facilities”.