Details
Legal instruments & key provisions
| Legal instrument | Key provision |
|---|---|
| Law No. 354/1975 (Legge 26 luglio 1975, n. 354, Norme sull’ordinamento penitenziario e sulla esecuzione delle misure privative e limitative della libertà) | It is forbidden to use of physical force against detainees, unless it is necessary to prevent or impede violent conducts, breakouts, or to counter the (passive) resistance to the staff’s orders. The members of the staff who – for any reason – used physical force against the detainees, must immediately inform the prison’s director who must promptly order medical examinations, and an internal investigation on the episodes. |
| Decree of the President of the Italian Republic No. 230/2000 (Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 30 giugno 2000, n. 230, Regolamento recante norme sull’ordinamento penitenziario e sulle misure privative e limitative della libertà) | The prison director is in charge of ensuring security and order within the detention facility, by availing themselves of the support from the staff employed in each facility. If prison’s authorities deem that the risk exists for the safety of a detainee, some measures can be adopted, such as: infrastructural measures (accommodating the detainee in an individual cell), technical measures (video-monitoring of cells, special locking and cell’s walls to avoid the risk of self-harm and suicide), organisational measures (transfer of detainees in other areas or facilities, adopting special detention regimes, exclusion from common activities, disciplinary measures, regular checks even during the night, specific training of prison staff). |
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS
| Year | Recommendation | Report |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The NPM recommends that Italian authorities should introduce a strict monitoring system to identify acts of violence perpetrated by police officers against prisoners, as well as a specific criminal offence to contrast such violence. The NPM reported that in some of the detention facilities monitored during 2017, LGB prisoners are detained in generic protected sections and all the documents concerning their status and detention activities (such as the formal requests addressed to the jail’s direction) report the indication 'Protected-homosexual': considering that such documents can be accessed by several members of the prison’s staff this might represent a disclosure of sensitive personal data and a violation of the prisoners’ right to protection of personal information. | Report details |
| 2018 | The NPM recommends to abolish such practice, described in the report of 2017, in all Italian detention facilities. As to female detainees, they were all held in male detention facilities. For this reason, the NPM recommends again that these people are detained in female sections in order to respect their gender identity and that a public and political debate is fostered to promote their detention conditions. In any case, the Authority recommends for this group of detainees as well that protection measures do not entail the exclusion of prisoners from common activities and socialisation. | Report details |
| 2019 | The Italian NPM recommended Italian authorities the necessity to “guarantee in every institution a regular recording of “critical events” and the simultaneous entry of such data in the information system of the Ministry of Justice | Report details |
| 2020 | LGBTI detainees must be considered a vulnerable category, more at risk of suffering violence during the detention period. In its opinion, the most urgent measure to implement is the development of training sessions concerning diversity and non-discrimination destined both to detainees and to the prison’s staff. Moreover, the NPM recalled the necessity of elaborating strategies to ensure the detainees’ right to affectivity and sexuality, including also non-heterosexual couples. | Report details |