Regarding the mechanical restraint of prisoners (i.e. fixating a prisoner to a bed face down often for many hours), the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) report calls upon the authorities to review the application of the measure and to ensure that fixation is never used for punitive purposes.
Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland welcomed the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’s (CPT) report on the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation as “a sign of openness which I trust will continue in the future.”
National authorities must send a clear message to prison officials that ill-treatment of inmates is unacceptable and will be punished.
Anti-torture monitors have highlighted “persistent overcrowding and staffing problems” in their new report on Belgium and urge the country to rethink its prison policy.
Prison over-crowding and police ill-treatment of detainees are criticised in a new report on Cyprus by anti-torture monitors.
