Europe rights watchdog criticises Italy over migrant detention centres

By AFP

The Council of Europe rights body on Friday criticised Italy's treatment of migrants in detention centres, citing police violence and the use of psychotropic drugs on detainees.

The COE's anti-torture committee made the comments after a visit in April to four repatriation centres on mainland Italy, where migrants are held pending expulsion. Italy said some "prison elements" were necessary at the centres to prevents escapes but said in its defence that it was building new facilities.

"The report describes several cases of physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force against detained persons by police staff in the CPRs (centres) visited," said the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

"The committee is also critical of the widespread practice of the administration of unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water," added the summary.

It called for a review of the practice of transporting people "handcuffed in a police vehicle without being offered food and water during journeys of several hours".

There was no adequate oversight of the police working there and injuries sustained by the detainees were not accurately recorded, it noted.

The committee visited centres in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome.

At Potenza, it criticised "the widespread practice of the administration of unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water to foreign nationals."

Prison-like conditions

The report acknowledged that police interventions usually follow disturbances.

But this was "a direct consequence of the disproportionate security restrictions, the lack of individual risk assessments of foreign nationals, and the fact that detained persons were in effect provided with nothing to occupy their time", it argued.

People can be detained at such centres for up to 18 months while the judicial process for expulsion is completed.

The committee noted the jail-like design and layout of the centres -- including triple-metal mesh screens and cage-like outdoor facilities -- recommending that such elements be removed.

The food for detainees was poor and there was a lack of toiletries, it added.

The committee also raised questions about Italy's attempts to hold foreigners at Italian-run centres in Albania, a controversial initiative that Italy's courts last month referred to the European Court of Justice.

Rome should ensure that any detainees the centres received proper treatment and lived in decent conditions, said the committee.

In its response, Italy said the prison-elements could not be removed as that would only lead to "increased escapes from the centres and episodes of vandalism".

But it was building new facilities that would comply with European guidelines, it added.

Police paid the "utmost attention" to the training of staff at such centres, it said.